Ellen Naylor

Ellen Naylor is one of America’s pioneers in competitive intelligence (CI) and Win/Loss analysis. For over 20 years, her research has consistently helped companies beat the competition and make smarter strategic decisions. Click here for our free Win/Loss cheat sheets: https://ellennaylor.com/subscribe/

Gain Competitive Advantage through Risk Management: NCBA’s Story

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Being ready when a crisis hits is a huge competitive advantage! Scenario planning is a great exercise to flesh out which crises you should be prepared for. If you wait until the crisis hits, it’s too late, especially in today’s real-time world! While the more sensational story was around NCBA’s involvement in the Oprah Winfrey show in 1996, I more appreciated how NCBA implemented its risk management strategy when Mad Cow entered the US on Dec 23, 2003, and believe they reacted in a way that reflects cooperative intelligence principles.

Research on Main Street: Find the Right Local Information to Make Strategic Decisions

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Research on Main Street is a must read for anyone seeking the right local information to make strategic decisions. Follow the advice in this book by author Marcy Phelps to boost your knowledge about local and regional events that may trigger change, such as a major layoff, a change in leadership, deregulation, new regulation or a technical breakthrough. The blend of case studies and expert interviews breathe life into the dry business of information gathering and analysis to support specific local strategic business initiatives.

Real-Time Competitive Advantage

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I am enjoying David Meerman Scott’s book, Real-Time Marketing & PR. He explains the competitive advantage to companies and individuals of being responsive to events that affect them in real-time. No longer can you just monitor the news: you have to take action! So many companies are stuck in the past and the future and forget that we operate in the NOW!

Preparation: Step 1 for Successful Collection Interviews

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Preparation, even for cold calling, or should I say especially for cold calling, is essential since the other person has no incentive to talk to you. The first thing I do when I get a collection assignment is to learn the language and jargon of the industry I am targeting. I find if I am thorough in my preparation, I am more relaxed, and can listen fully since I am not panicking about what I should ask next.

From a Good Sales Call to a Great Sales Call: Book Review

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“From a Good Sales Call to a Great Sales Call” focuses on improving Sales’ post-decision debrief process with prospects, referred to as win loss analysis in the competitive intelligence world. I like how the author, Richard Schroder, adds ‘post-decision debrief’ as the 7th element of the sales process. Apparently only 18% of US companies have a formal win loss program. Thus, in most new business situations, sales people don’t have a complete and accurate understanding of why they won or lost sales. If armed with such data, Sales can make behavioral changes to improve close rates by 15%.

How to Encourage Cooperative Communication from Sales

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Many competitive intelligence, marketing, research and product developers complain about poor communication from their sales force, who has a direct conduit to your customers—one of the best sources of knowledge about what your company is doing right and wrong as well as ideas for new products, services and tweaks to your existing products that can be revenue generating!

So how do you encourage cooperative communication from Sales?

Your Employees are Your Competitive Advantage, REALLY

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How many companies say “Our Employees are Our Most Important Asset,” but their actions don’t match these hollow words? This is not the case at Southwest Airlines, where employees are valued in all phases of their relationship with the company’s management, and provide the company its competitive advantage!

Improve Your Competitive Intelligence Skill: Move out of Your Comfort Zone

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How often do we get stuck in patterns and either make mistakes or don’t see events coming? In competitive intelligence, we look for what isn’t or what looks odd or out of place since oddity often is a precursor to change. There is always surprise in life and business. How we prepare ourselves for it is what separates the excellent from the average. I find I react better to surprises if I get out of my comfort zone more often.

10 Tips to Find Competitive Intelligence Online

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Read about 10 top tips recommended by Arthur Weiss of Aware shared in a recent AIIP webinar. These will help you no matter what type of research you do. Aside from sharing some great websites, browsers, social networks and Internet people sites, I like Arthur’s framing of research. Learn exactly what you are looking for and put yourself in the target company’s place as plan for and conduct the research. Also think laterally. Look for oddities and things that don’t look, feel or sound right.

Assess the Reliability of Your Research Network

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How do you assess the reliability of your human sources? I consider their motivation to know what you’re trying to learn as a primary yardstick towards reliability, although people don’t always tell the truth or in the spirit of trying to be helpful when they don’t know…they unintentionally misinform. What’s been your experience?

© 2026 Ellen Naylor