Didn't see that coming? Quick response to brief your company on disruptive market developments

Have you ever been asked for your perspective on a market development that caught you completely by surprise? It happens! Never fear, follow this five step process to (within just a few hours) get a grasp of the situation, create and execute an action plan.

Transcript

1. IntelliCon EURO 2023 - Prague DIDN’T SEE THAT COMING? Quick Response To Brief Your Company On Disruptive Market Developments
2. A quick intro /aislingconroy aislingkc.medium.com CircleCI: Competitive, Analyst Relations and Product Marketing HP Inc.: B2B/B2C CI, Forecasting, IP Defense, Modelling Aisling Conroy Senior Manager of Competitive Intelligence + Industry
3. TABLE OF CONTENTS 01 04 02 05 03 A ROUGH START GET A G.R.A.S.P REFLECTION FIND OUT MORE Q&A
4. EMOTIONS RUN HIGH AND INFORMATION IS LIMITED Omar (Marketing) 06:45 AM Have you seen the news? The Sales Team is freaking out!! Bruno (Sales) 07:10 AM What do I do if a customer asks me about this?! Shota (Sales) 07:15 AM What if they start offering pricing discounts? Maya (Sales) 07:20 AM There’s no way I’m going to meet my sales quota now! Gus (Legal) 07:55 AM Can we talk? Liam (Marketing) 07:45 AM Oh no! This totally messes up our new market plan! 😭 Louie (Marketing) 07:50 AM It’s going to be hard to compete for media attention 😩 Jun (Engineering) 08:02 AM How did they get that to market so fast? Anuj (Engineering) 08:10 AM Do we need to rethink our upcoming product launch?? Fatima (Engineering) 08:07 AM I wish we could do something like this!!! Fabrice (Engineering) 08:14 AM The last six months of work was for nothing! Sid (Legal) 08:13 AM Please add me to your next call on this… Olga (Marketing Director) 08:15 AM Oh no! Do we need to do a re-branding? Otto (VP of Engineering) 08:16 AM How soon can we get a full analysis turned around? Angelo (Legal) 08:20 AM I want to review everything we say external about this! Ravi (CEO) 08:55 AM I need a full debrief and your plan to address ASAP! Charlie (Sales) 08:45 AM We’re DOOMED!
5. HOW BIG OF A DEAL IS THIS? Unpredictable Highly predictable Highly relevant Irrelevant ☹
6. Ravi – CEO Always thinking about: - Shareholders & investors Wants to know: - How will this impact the business? - Looking for: * Exec Summary * Impact Analysis * Action plan Otto – Engineering Always thinking about: - Innovation Wants to know: - Are we developing products the right way? - Looking for: * Samples * Product Demos * Spec Compares * Cost Assessment Olga – Marketing Always thinking about: - Effectively messaging to our customers Wants to know: - Does our message still resonate? - Looking for: * Key message * Channel Strategy * Market Sentiment Jose – Sales Always thinking about: - Closing deals + happy customers Wants to know: - Will I still make my quota? - Looking for: * Objection handling * Battlecards * Live enablement Gus – Legal Always thinking about: - Protecting the company Wants to know: - Does this put us at risk? - Looking for: * Live conversation * Understand fine print SAMPLE INTERNAL CUSTOMER PROFILES
7. GET CONTROL RESPONSE ASSESS IMPACT STRATEGIZE THE ACTIONS PROJECT EXECUTION GET A FIRM GRASP
9. G: GET CONTROL Aisling (Competitive Intelligence) 09:10 AM Hi Everyone, as some of you may have seen, earlier today our competitor launched a new product. This product will compete in the same category as the product we plan to launch next month. The Competitive Team is assembling a group of internal experts to handle immediate response actions. We will keep this team informed as we make progress. For context, the last time this competitor launched a product in this market was 18 months ago, it had moderately positive reception, but was noted for being ~20% more expensive than alternatives in market for a similar value proposition. The Team has gathered initial information and started a knowledge repository here. Details so far: - The target use case is XYZ - This is built on top of XYZ capabilities Working assumptions: - This was developed in partnership with a 3rd party - Expect a 6 month ramp up before the product is widely available in market - All upcoming Sales conversations with customers in the Health Care field should anticipate questions on this development Still to be determined: - Anticipated customer demand - Geographic coverage - Impact (if any) to our sales targets next quarter * Identify the source(s) * Form a response team * What is known vs. assumed * Are there Knowledge gaps?
10. R: RESPONSE Aisling (Competitive Intelligence) 10:00 AM Hi Everyone, regarding our competitor’s product announcement today… Progress so far: - Cross functional team assembled spanning Marketing, Sales, R&D and Legal (Many thanks to Omar, Maya, Fabrice & Angelo who will represent their teams!) - Assigned owners and actions for completion by end of day Actions underway: - Developing drawer statement (Marketing & Legal) - Updating sales battlecards (Marketing) - Monitoring market sentiment, social and trade publications (Marketing) - Initial technical investigation (R&D) - Purchasing samples/product demo (R&D) Ongoing working docs for reference: Draft Drawer statement here, – (Angelo) Summary of social media commentary here. – (Omar) Battlecards here. – (Omar) Reference market pricing and expected price point here. – (Aisling) Past technical assessment from previous product release here. – (Fabrice) * Focus on what’s URGENT * Set specific tasks * Agree a tight timeline * Sync regularly
11. A: ASSESS THE IMPACT * Competitor assessment * Market trends * Scenario planning * Impact assessment Best: Medium: (we think this is most likely)* Worst: Strengths of competitor were over estimated Only appealing for some use cases Our strengths were over estimated Medium Term Revenue: Customer Base: Cost Structure: Competitive Position: • Long Term Revenue: Customer Base: Cost Structure: Competitive Position: Future Growth:
12. Aisling (Competitive Intelligence) 02:30 PM Hi Everyone, regarding our competitor’s product announcement earlier today. The cross-functional team has created an impact assessment with the following conclusions: Medium Term: Longer Term: Our next step will be to outline team specific actions based on this assessment. A: ASSESS THE IMPACT Overall anticipated impact: *Medium* Medium Term Impact: (6-12 months) Revenue may decrease by 5-10% by end of next Qtr. Up to 10 Customers with specific use cases may churn Our messaging is noticeably weakened in key markets Overall anticipated impact: *Medium* Long Term Impact: (12-24 months) Revenue losses will stabilize Our upcoming roadmap features will mitigate churn Current messaging will decline in effectiveness
13. S: STRATEGIZE THE ACTIONS Aisling (Competitive Intelligence) 05:00 PM Hi Everyone, … Based on the medium impact we anticipate this to have on our company, the cross-functional team has proposed several initiatives to mitigate and set us up for success. Marketing: Sales: Engineering: Legal will be on hand to assist throughout, especially with the Marketing and Sales initiatives. The lead for each initiative has outlined a set of actions, milestones and metrics to track and evaluate effectiveness. With these actions established we will now transition to having a project management team coordinate these activities ongoing as part of their day-to-day duties. * R+D investments? * GTM changes? * Legal + Regulation impact? * Customer focus
14. P: PROJECT EXECUTION Aisling (Competitive Intelligence) 11:30 AM Hi Everyone, In the week since our competitor launched their new product, a project team has been established with activities ongoing to address The cross functional team meeting will happen every Tuesday for the next 6 weeks A record of actions taken, current status and metrics will be shared every Friday afternoon (UTC). You can view progress across all the initiatives here. Thank you to everyone for your amazing support, I know this team can make sure we’re set up for success! * Agree Roles+Responsibilities * KPIs + action plans * Forum + Milestones * How to end the initiative
15. THE JOURNEY WE’VE JUST BEEN ON Chaos •No direction •No plan •Rumours •Negativity Gain Control •Leadership •Ownership •Relief •Quiet the noise Response •Alignment •Buy-in •SMEs Assessment •Clarity •Debate •Alignment •Ideas Strategy •Creativity •Opportunities •Objective •Goals •Measures Project work •Timelines •Deliverables •Expectations •Progress •Confidence Pre 9:00am 9:00am 10:00am 02:00pm 05:00pm DAY ONE WEEK ONE
16. Ravi – CEO - I know we’re taking the right actions! Otto – Engineering - I know what to invest in next! Olga – Marketing - I know how to change my campaign! Jose – Sales - My team feels confident! Gus – Legal - Our company is protected! DO THEY HAVE WHAT THEY NEED?
17. Cynefin Framework - Dave Snowden 1999 FRAMEWORKS FOR CRISIS MANAGEMENT Crisis Mgmt. Relational Model - Tony Jaques 2007 4 Ps Foundation – KPMG 2021
18. GETTING STRONGER FOR NEXT TIME Note to self: *Improve relationship with R&D *Establish Qtrly cross functional scenario planning *Proactively track new legislation *Professional development time!
19. IntelliCon EURO 2023 - Prague Q&A TIME
20. THANKS! WHAT QUESTIONS DO YOU HAVE? aislingkc@gmail.com /aislingconroy aislingkc.medium.com
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