Often in competitive intelligence we’re so busy looking externally at the competition and market conditions that we forget to consider how we can improve our own operation by investigating ourselves. Before I look at a company’s competitors, I always like to take a long look at the company which hired me. Their operation, including their management’s behavior and motivation, becomes my yardstick to consider as I learn about the competition.
More of the innovation that people shared was around process which involved social networking and more sophisticated monitoring and analysis tools. The cost of information acquisition is really inexpensive today even compared to 10 years ago, so companies can afford to text mine and use tools that provide visualization at a reasonable cost. We concluded that industry norms can be a deterrent to sharing innovation. However, as we build our human networks and develop trust, we often share our innovation with others, either one on one or among a smaller group.
While win loss analysis will give you ideas for product development and competitive intelligence, it’s often too late to regain your customer’s lost business. Consider interviewing wins, and also interview your customers at various intervals in the account planning and post-sales process to boost customer retention!
When interviewing people, they might wonder why you are asking certain questions, and over time they might even become a little suspicious of your motives. A skilled elicitor will entice the other person to talk and share information almost without the other person realizing that they’re sharing. A key to successful elicitation, aside from practice, is to prepare how you would like the conversation to flow, and be prepared to answer questions the customer might ask you.
People like stories and can be very persuasive, and I notice stories also make it easy to avoid ego conflicts. In this case study, we used customer’s decision-making criteria rather than our opinions, to persuasively communicate our analysis. However, don’t be so persuasive that you forget about the dignity of the people you are addressing. Tell a good story that leads them to your conclusions, as though your audience had thought them up themselves. This works with everyone I have ever addressed regardless of profession or culture.
This post continues my story from the BCG Matrix Share discussion where we set the stage for an acquisition with a share of market visual. However, share of market by itself was not compelling enough for management. We created a company comparison based on 7 key customer buying criteria, and decided it would be more credible if we represented the comparisons from a customer’s point of view, casting aside our blind spots and biases.
A strategic visual competitive intelligence tool I really like is the Boston Consulting Group’s (BCG) Matrix Share Momentum model. You can see at a glance with little explanation how to read the results of this model. In competitive intelligence terms, the tool is a great primer to communicate to management a share of market snap shot.
This is an update of books on competitive intelligence tools and techniques from a 2009 blog. Analysis Without Paralysis was updated in 2012 and now includes 12 techniques, 2 more than the first edition in 2006. Mercyhurst University students and staff published The Analyst’s Cookbook, Volume 2, available only in Kindle format.
One tool that been very popular with Sales forces over the years is “Switching Cost Analysis.” The goal is to help retain your customers! Identify all the hidden costs of the competitor’s solution which might make it more expensive for the customer to switch. Find enough omitted costs and the customer might wonder what else the competitor is not telling them!
I like the cooperative approach shared in Hot Buttons to solve conflicts with colleagues as it’s objective, focuses on constructive communication, and not “who dunnit? While cooperative intelligence skills of leadership, connection and communication don’t guarantee job security, they will help you stand out since many people have lower emotional intelligence: that is they have weak people skills.