How can you use competitive intelligence to identify and mitigate business risks?

1 Define your goals and scope

Before you start collecting and analyzing competitive intelligence, you need to have a clear idea of what you want to achieve and how you will use the information. For example, do you want to find out how your competitors are generating leads, engaging prospects, closing deals, or retaining customers? Do you want to compare your value proposition, pricing, features, or benefits with theirs? Do you want to identify gaps or threats in the market or industry? Depending on your goals and scope, you will need different sources, methods, and tools to gather and analyze competitive intelligence.

2 Collect relevant and reliable data

There are many ways to collect competitive intelligence, such as online research, social media monitoring, customer feedback, industry reports, market surveys, or mystery shopping. However, not all data is equally relevant and reliable. You need to filter out the noise and focus on the data that is accurate, timely, and actionable. You also need to respect the ethical and legal boundaries of competitive intelligence and avoid any practices that could harm your reputation or expose you to lawsuits. For example, you should not use false identities, hack into competitors' systems, or bribe their employees.

4 Communicate and apply the insights

The final step of competitive intelligence is to communicate and apply the insights to your sales development team and other stakeholders. You should present the insights in a clear, concise, and compelling way, using charts, graphs, tables, or stories. You should also highlight the key takeaways, implications, and action items for your team. For example, you can suggest how to adjust your value proposition, messaging, pricing, or positioning based on the competitive intelligence. You should also monitor the results and feedback of your actions and update your competitive intelligence regularly.

Competitive intelligence can help you identify and mitigate business risks by giving you a deeper understanding of your competitors and the market. By following these steps, you can use competitive intelligence to enhance your sales development performance and gain a competitive edge .

5 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?