Competitive intelligence 101

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Competitive Intelligence 101 Beat your competition.

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Why do we care about competitors?

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Don’t try keeping up with the Joneses.

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It’s learning what customers expect and want from us.

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Formstack’s Platform Evolution March 2018 December 2018 April 2019 July 2019

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Our Competitors

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How do you prioritize competitors?

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Types of Competitors Direct Competitors Indirect Competitors Replacement Competitors

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Defining Your Competitors Who does the market say you compete against? Who do your competitors say you compete against? Who do your customers say you compete against?

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What does the market say? Screenshot from G2

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What do your competitors say?

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What do your customers say? Talk to your sales team Look into your website’s SEO See your competitive paid ad efficiencies

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Market Competitors Customers YES

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Where do I start to research competitors?

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Competitor 1 Competitor 2 Competitor 3 Competitor 4

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Messaging Teardown What do they say they do well? Who are they trying to tell? Have either of those changed over time?

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Where to research? Competitor website and blog Product review sites Free trials of competitor products Competitive feature sets

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Turn into positioning statements For (target customer) who (statement of the need), the (product name) is a (product category) that (statement of key benefit). Unlike (primary competitive alternative), our product (statement of primary differentiation).

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Quick ethics quiz. Never lie about a competitor. Never imply you’re going to make a purchase. Don’t buy competitor lists. (GDPR)

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Preparing your sales teams.

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1 2 3 Creating Battlecards Use your positioning statements! Go and No Go Areas Trap Questions Objection Handling

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Rolling out your battlecards Go where your sales team is working Create a pilot program Make training small and interactive Measure a sales readiness score

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Tracking your success.

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Develop a Win/Loss program around compete.

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1. Start small and gain confidence 2. Accept you’re not always the best product 3. Share your success with others Final Thoughts @ClintBuechler [email protected]