Competitive Intelligence

Tactical, Operational & Strategic Analysis of Markets, Competitors & Industries

I recently started a Sales and Marketing Group on this Ning and would like to expand our group and participation.

 

One of the issues that many people face in CI: How to engage Sales to give timely, quality tips to the CI team around competitor's products, customer intelligence, innovation in the market, rumors that could impact your company's success in the marketplace.

 

First I invite you to join our group.

Second please share your successes and frustrations with Sales.

 

I'll start!

 

Sales needs to receive good scoop from you before they will give, regardless of the culture of your company, regardless of whether management tells them they HAVE to cooperate with you. When I set up our CI initiative, Sales was one of my first targets to collect from. So I gave them a couple of deliverables they valued. The most appreciated was a tactical product comparison and description of competitors at a regional level. I didn't assume I knew what Sales needed: I asked them. Touch points are important with Sales.

 

The other step that helped build relationships was to be available to Sales. This sounds so obvious, but it's not apparently. My peers in other marketing support functions were not as responsive to Sales, and Sales felt like they were "hiding behind their telephones" since they seldom answered the phone. Today we have so many ways to be in touch. Let Sales know the best way to reach you, and keep your promise to be back in touch within the same day unless you are traveling or on holiday. If you're really busy, acknowledge Sales' communication quickly and let them know when you can be back to help them.

 

It's your turn now!

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Seena Sharp recently wrote a great article entitled, "Competitive Intelligence: Incorporate New Perspectives". She shares 7 proven methods to improve your competitive intelligence success. The first one is, "look beyond your competitors" Customers are far more important in determining what the market wants and and what customers will buy.

Aside from querying your customers to get at this intelligence, you can get great and ongoing customer intelligence through your salesforce...back to theme of the above question about engaging Sales. Getting at your customers is one great reason to ring in your sales force.

BTW, if you haven't bought Seena's book, Competitive Intelligence Advantage, I highly recommend it. It's an insightful read and has over 40 5 star ratings!

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