Competitive intelligence 101

Transcript

1. Competitive
   Intelligence 101
   Beat your competition.
   

   View Slide

2. Why do we care
   about competitors?
   

   View Slide

3. Don’t try keeping up with
   the Joneses.
   

   View Slide

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

   View Slide

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

   View Slide

6. Our Competitors
   

   View Slide

7. How do you
   prioritize competitors?
   

   View Slide

8. Types of Competitors
   Direct Competitors
   Indirect Competitors
   Replacement Competitors
   

   View Slide

9. 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?
   

   View Slide

10. What does the market say?
    Screenshot from G2
    

    View Slide

11. What do your competitors say?
    

    View Slide

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

    View Slide

13. Market
    Competitors
    Customers
    YES
    

    View Slide

14. Where do I start to research
    competitors?
    

    View Slide

15. Competitor 1 Competitor 2 Competitor 3 Competitor 4
    

    View Slide

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

    View Slide

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

    View Slide

18. 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).
    

    View Slide

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

    View Slide

20. Preparing your
    sales teams.
    

    View Slide

21. 1 2 3
    Creating Battlecards
    Use your positioning statements!
    Go and No Go Areas Trap Questions
    Objection
    Handling
    

    View Slide

22. View Slide

23. 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
    

    View Slide

24. Tracking your success.
    

    View Slide

25. Develop a Win/Loss
    program around
    compete.
    

    View Slide

26. View Slide

27. 1. Start small and gain confidence
    2. Accept you’re not always the best
    product
    3. Share your success with others
    Final Thoughts
    @ClintBuechler
    clint.buechler@formstack.com
    

    View Slide