Key Takeaways
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Secure competitive intelligence Gather competitive intelligence through qualitative analysis that marries data analysis with direct, strategic calling to capture real-world, actionable insights from practitioners in the industry.
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Get ready for every call by defining goals for each and targeting appropriate contacts. Create tailored calling guides to get the most out of each conversation.
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Create lasting relationships in the process of making calls. Use active listening to create opportunities for honest discussion and to draw out more complex, richer details that numbers can’t always capture.
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Maximize your strategic calling activities with competitive intelligence gathering. Create a complete view by following public domain data, tracking online activities, and participating in industry events.
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Analyze all gathered intelligence by identifying patterns, cross-checking sources, and connecting disparate data points to inform business decisions and spot market opportunities.
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Honor ethical standards by observing the law, being truthful, and exhibiting professionalism in every aspect of your competitive intelligence efforts.
I do competitive intelligence gathering by making strategic phone calls. By the end of these strategic conversations, I learn important information about my competitors and the landscape. I’m constantly calling, interviewing, and dialoguing with vendors, clients, and former staff.
It really lets me keep my ear to the ground in terms of real feedback, trends, pricing, and tactics. You come away with much more than what’s available in public reports or through an online search. Phone calls give you space to probe further and clarify any holes in your understanding quickly.
I try to conduct calls in a friendly, conversational, and forthright manner, so that the information obtained is current and candid. You learn what’s working and what’s not for other markets, and you identify threats or emerging new opportunities before they appear on anyone else’s radar.
In this post, I detail how you can incorporate this tool into your workflow and apply the findings immediately.
What is Competitive Intelligence?
Competitive intelligence simply refers to a systematic, ongoing process for collecting and analyzing information about competitors and the industry. I scour competitive work, pay attention to industry trends, and chart the future for what I believe buyers will crave. This labor informs my vision as I try to track what’s successful, what isn’t, and what’s on the horizon through effective strategies in competitive analysis.
When I’m able to interpret all of this data, I’m able to instruct my team with real evidence, not gut feelings. By taking a deep dive into a rival’s strengths and weaknesses, I better understand where I can carve out a competitive differentiation. This specialized knowledge helps inform my judgment about what to construct, driving my strategic decisions on how I sell it and where I spend my time.
Most organizations I’ve encountered in my area of work recognize the value in conducting competitive intelligence research. Additionally, 62% now budget exclusively for this type of work. In my own organization, nearly 80% of product people oversee this role. We look at competitor products, their pricing strategies, their sales process, and how they are discussed by customers to gather valuable insights.
I often employ a simple SWOT chart to separate their strengths and weaknesses, and that helps me figure out how to map out my counterstrategy. This type of competitive analysis shouldn’t be a one-time occurrence. So I still receive new, real-time information and keep the entire team updated. I help by bringing together what I find, so others, like you, can benefit from it.
Equipped with good, research-driven information, I identify opportunities to expand or mitigate danger before it escalates into a crisis situation. This practice allows me to be agile and immediate—able to pivot when trends change, ensuring I maintain my competitive advantage in a fast-paced world with a robust competitive intelligence strategy.
Why Strategic Calling Matters
Strategic calling will get you in front of the fountainhead. This method reveals discoveries that are impossible to find in reports or through an internet search. When you convene the people on the ground doing the work and have an honest discussion with them, you start to understand what’s happening out there.
Above all, you’ll listen to them about what’s really important. You’ll discover what keeps them up at night and how they’re communicating to their stakeholders about the adaptive market. This allows you to identify and monitor key emerging trends, track your competitors’ activities and strategies, and understand how these factors fit together to inform the direction of travel.
Gain Unfiltered Human Insights
Nothing beats the face-to-face connection. Direct calls with industry folks really open the door to that honest, real talk. As always, please don’t hesitate to ask about other new products!
You’ll hear best practice successes and learn the type of customer pain points that surveys miss. An informal conversation with the sales manager at a competitor’s dealership could reveal useful information. You may find out they’re getting a lot more advanced calls on one particular issue.
That specific information allows you to better sharpen your focus, create your own campaigns, and stay ahead of issues before they have a chance to escalate.
Uncover Nuance Beyond Data
Engaging with people introduces important nuance that simply can’t be captured with numbers. Our data shows that sales are significantly lower right now. A quick phone call will bring out the truth of the narrative—buyers are worried about that new technology.
You get a feel for overall mood, slight changes in strategy, or what’s causing one offer to perform better. These pieces of strategic calling enable you to identify emerging threats, identify new entrants in your competitive landscape, and pivot quickly.
Validate Other Intelligence Sources
You’ll want to use what you learn on these test calls to corroborate and confirm what you may be seeing in your data. When calls confirm or align with your other research, that’s a good indication you’re heading in the right direction.
If so, you know what to explore further. This ensures that your competitive intelligence stays razor-sharp and enables you to make more informed decisions at every stage of the process.
Prepare for Strategic Calling
Preparing for strategic calling involves much more than just making the phone calls. It all begins with building a solid foundation.
I begin by making a short list of steps that keep my prep focused and clear: research the market, set up Google Alerts for top rivals, set goals, pull data from my CRM, and meet with key folks in my company who know the market.
I use a 30-60-90 day plan so I know what comes next and what success looks like at each stage. It all comes full circle to my higher-level business objectives, ensuring my calls are truly beneficial.
1. Define Clear Call Objectives
When I do these calls, I try to determine proactively what I’d like to get out of each call. Pick one or two major objectives to start.
Like, maybe you’d like to understand the impact of a new product launch, or maybe you want to explore the ways a competitor lowered their prices.
I always try to attach these goals to bigger initiatives I have going on in the company. Each of these discussions gets us further in the right direction toward where we want to go.
2. Identify Your Calling Targets
I look at my short list of aspirational competitors or movers and shakers in key sector.
I rely heavily on CRM data and feedback from production teams and other internal stakeholders to crystalize who is priority for right now.
Google Alerts are invaluable to me, alerting me whenever a competitor does something notable or new. That way, I’m not wasting my time.
3. Develop Strategic Questioning Guides
I adapt my questions to the subject matter, and to the individual I’m calling.
I inquire about team composition, upcoming improvements, expansion into new markets, etc. This is what allows me to receive actionable responses.
4. Anticipate Competitor Vulnerabilities
This is the dangerous part. I try and focus on where competitors are going to fail, whether that’s slow service, high prices, etc.
I raise these questions on executive calls and in meetings to elicit more thoughtful responses.
5. Map Calls to Business Strategy
As you can see, every call connects to our overall corporate strategy.
I keep and tag all intel in Klue or spreadsheets so I can easily follow-up.
6. Adopt the Right Mindset
By coming in with an open mind and a clear understanding that everyone’s there to learn, you can gain valuable insights into competitive intelligence research.
Execute Strategic Calls Effectively
Competitive intelligence is a powerful tactic that plays a crucial role in strategic decision-making. It allows you to gather competitive insights that shape your moves in the marketplace. Each month, numerous businesses begin conducting competitive intelligence research to track their competitors. It’s clear that business intelligence and data-driven decision-making are essential for developing effective marketing strategies.
When time is limited and teams are lean, determining which direct competitors to focus on is vital. The way you communicate with them can make all the difference in your competitive analysis.
First, establish solid relationship-building. Humanize the discussion by disclosing something about yourself. Refer to previous projects you’ve worked on or mutual connections you both know to establish rapport. This creates space for candid responses and helps the call not feel like a cold call.
To achieve this, employ active listening skills. Prioritize listening over planning your response. For instance, you might repeat back what you hear, such as, “So you’re saying the main challenge is turnaround time?” This demonstrates your attentiveness and encourages them to provide more detailed competitive information.
Continue with deeper dive questions. If a contact mentions a shift in their agency’s priorities, probe further with questions like, “What caused that shift?” or “How has that impacted your priorities?” Such inquiries help uncover nuanced details that will inform your competitive intelligence strategy.
Repeat to ensure understanding and agreement. Double-check key facts by restating them: “Just to make sure I have this right, your main competitor has dropped prices this quarter?” This practice significantly enhances the accuracy of your notes and competitive data.
Lastly, be aware of what’s left unsaid. Pay attention to tone, sarcasm, or interruptions. If they pause, follow up with, “Is there anything else you’d like to include?” The ability to read between the lines often provides you with a competitive advantage in your market segment.
Beyond Calling: Other CI Methods
Competitive intelligence (CI) is so much more than a phone call. You have a wealth of ideas, tools, and sources of inspiration at your fingertips. Strategic calling goes a long way, but that’s only one piece of the puzzle.
You can use a handful of other methods to get a full picture:
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Check public records and news
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Watch digital footprints
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Go to trade shows and big events
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Use social listening tools
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Read analyst and trend reports
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Scan review sites for real user feedback
Leverage Public Domain Data
Public data provides tremendous value. Financial reports, to take one common example, unpack sales trends, spend, growth. Press releases are usually how you hear about someone’s new launch or a big, new key hire.
Watch for regulatory comment periods. These can be tell-tale signs of growth, efforts to comply with regulations, or potential risk. Scholarship from industry journals and analyst reports like those from disruptive.co give real world advice and counsel.
They provide a clearer picture into what your competitors are doing and how they’re positioning themselves. All of these sources lay the groundwork for your CI efforts. They allow you to stay broadly informed for the least amount of money.
Monitor Online Activities
Websites and social media provide an immediate and transparent look at what’s happening. Promotion release updates on a product portal can indicate the release of a new product, feature, or special promotion.
Social channels provide a window into how brands interact with customers, and how customers respond. That’s where social listening tools come in handy. They can help you track mentions and trends as they happen.
Review platforms are another layer. You start to understand things users enjoy, their points of pain, and whatever just flat-out needs to be fixed. For instance, Fernish owns 13% of the entire traffic pie for a set of four comparable brands. This further attests its irresistible charm in the digital world.
Attend Industry Events
Trade shows and conferences like these get you into the fray. You build new relationships with thought leaders across industry and experience first-hand the dramatic shift in the market.
When you watch a competitor go through a product launch or present on their year, you can get a glimpse of where they’re moving. Trend reports and in-person connection allow you to identify gaps and potential new ideas.
The Journal of Competitiveness has uncovered a powerful relationship between high-quality competitive intelligence (CI) and superior outcomes. This is even true in emerging markets.
Analyze Gathered Intelligence
Once I’ve completed my competitive intelligence through calls, I transition to the analysis phase. This is the stage where gathered intelligence becomes actionable insights that lead to real change. I apply rigorous yet accessible methods to analyze what I discover, to draw out what’s essential.
Here’s how I work through it:
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Make charts and tables to spot trends
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Use frameworks, like Porter’s Five Forces, for structure
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Group data by market, product, or competitor
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Compare findings across time for shifts
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Check insights with outside sources
Identify Key Patterns and Themes
This is how I find the themes, by looking for what is mentioned multiple times. So if you read in multiple outlets that there’s a new standard in shipping, that’s an indicator of a shift happening.
I categorize these learnings into buckets, such as “pricing mutations” or “calls to action.” This allows me to connect their findings to my organization’s objectives in a very convenient manner.
Assess Information Reliability
I assign a value to each source by considering who provided the information and their motivation for doing so. If a sales call can provide the same level of detail as a publication’s trade report that provides an additional level of confidence.
I watch for context clues, such as the recency of the information. Cross-checking allows me to see what details stand firm over multiple sources.
Connect Disparate Data Points
I piece together hints from our conversations with customers, their public filings, and the news. A hiring boom at a competitor and a new advertising campaign could be signs of growth.
By mapping out these links, I’m able to get the big picture rather than just isolated pieces of information.
Spot Emerging Market Trends
I always look for subtle changes in what buyers are looking for. A sudden shift in public opinion or the emergence of a promising new technology could change the picture.
By staying ahead with a shorter review cycle, monthly or quarterly, I’m able to react more quickly.
Recognize Potential Disruptor Openings
My tendency is to see holes that haven’t been punched already. This would either be a new technology or market opportunity.
By following start-ups and new models—I surf.
Activate Insights for Advantage
Actionable competitive intelligence from strategic calling is my secret weapon. This process is much more than a data roundup. I focus on implementing these insights to create tangible positive change to my business.
The reality is that most teams doing this work are small. Even so, my personal effect is minimal even with an excellent learning experience like this, unless I use what I learn to inform significant decisions. Here’s how I put these insights to work:
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Make changes based on what I learn fast.
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Leverage mystery shopping to see what my competitors are doing and how they’re communicating with consumers.
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Incorporate these insights into joint marketing and project planning, so each decision aligns with my understanding of the current landscape.
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Watch for market shifts using tools that track trends, saving time and making my moves smarter.
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Access other exclusive resources, such as vast member plan with hundreds of hours of sales and member management advice.
Refine Your Business Strategy
It’s become part of my process to use what I’ve learned to continuously pivot my strategy as the market evolves. Every planning session draws on the most current research.
So if a competitor lowers their prices, my team addresses it thoroughly on our next retreat. We further judge the impacts of any new functionalities they release. We’re all about using evidence, not gut feelings, to drive what we do moving forward.
Inform Product Development Choices
In addition, competitive calls help me understand which features speak most to potential buyers. So if I hear tons of complaints about a competitor’s product, I’ll go back to my team and make sure we don’t have those same issues.
My product updates are in line with what the market is craving at the moment.
Sharpen Market Positioning
I go back and make those changes to my marketing with new knowledge from competitive intelligence research on what the effective pitches look like. This way, what I provide is different and serves the unique niche my audience is looking for.
Address Critical Customer Pain Points
Calls let me identify what really worms under my customers’ skin, providing valuable insights for conducting competitive intelligence. My team can then address these pain points, ensuring positive experiences and ultimately enhancing our competitive position and customer retention.
Measure Strategic Calling Impact
It’s pretty tremendous when you track what these calls do to help. Metrics such as competitive insights on new leads and satisfied customers let me know that I’m headed in the right direction.
Ethical Considerations and Legality
Competitive intelligence is a powerful business tool. Actually, it’s the reason 90% of Fortune 500 companies take advantage of it every day. Collecting this information must be done within the bounds of clear legal and ethical considerations.
In doing so, you’ll be able to avoid falling prey to the biggest dangers of corporate espionage. The damage from unlawful actions like wiretaps, bribery, or blackmail affects the whole economy and costs the U.S. About $500 billion each year and millions of jobs. Morals count on both sides of the transaction, as well.
Over 73 percent of U.S. Consumers report that they abandon brands that they consider untrustworthy.
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Avoid foul play by avoiding extortion, corruption, or unlawful intercepts.
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Be sure to request info and use it in accordance with privacy legislation.
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Consider trade secrets, such as the formula for Coca Cola, as no touch zones.
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Render honest truths, not contorted lies.
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Ensure adequate documentation demonstrating that information was obtained in a reasonable and truthful manner.
Understand Legal Boundaries
Privacy laws and data protection legislation influence how you collect competitive intelligence. Understanding and abiding by these laws not only puts you ahead of the curve, it protects your reputation.
You’ve set up your entire CI process to follow the rules. This keeps you out of the legal gray areas that can jeopardize your business.
Avoid Misrepresentation Always
Trust and accuracy are your currency, and they can make—or break—your reputation. When you engage with industry contacts, you go into meetings with integrity and good faith intentions.
You distribute information as established fact, not hearsay, in order for your staff and decision makers to be able to make informed, robust decisions.
Maintain Professional Integrity
A business that operates on deep ethics creates a healthier environment for us all to thrive in. Educating your team is vital in order to ensure that your CI work isn’t unethical.
Committed employees stay with their companies longer and actively contribute to 21% higher profits.
Conclusion
I ensure a leg up over my competitors by defaulting to smart and honest intelligence. These are primarily what help me form my view of the competitive market. After every call, I come away with concrete information I can immediately put to use. I identify upcoming trends, find existing gaps, and define my next moves in plain sight. I apply what I learn to avoid uncertainty and inefficiency. No double talk or long winded process—just down to earth conversation and laser like precision. Leveling up in a fair and above board way helps me stay sharp and on the up-and-up. You have a great shot at making those gains just by picking up the phone and using what you find. In order to be the most effective and innovative industry, continue to have your ear to the ground and do something with what you hear. Test things out, see how quickly the process can happen.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is competitive intelligence gathering through strategic calling?
Making strategic calls to competitive or surround organizations enables you to gather valuable competitive intelligence first-hand, directly from industry experts, potential partners, or customers. This approach provides actionable data in real time, allowing your company to stay ahead in the competitive landscape and enhance business performance.
How should I prepare for a strategic competitive intelligence call?
Know your market position, establish measurable goals, and write a script with probing questions. Conducting competitive intelligence helps you call with confidence and compliance while maximizing the value from every call you make.
What are the benefits of using strategic calling for CI?
Competitive intelligence that strategic calling provides really cuts through, delivering valuable insights and information that you just can’t always find or get online. It allows you to quickly identify emerging market opportunities and competitor behavior, enabling quicker, more informed strategic decisions.
Is strategic calling for competitive intelligence legal?
Yes—if you conduct competitive intelligence research and do your legal and ethical homework first. Do not ever engage in misrepresentation, violate privacy law, or ask for proprietary information. Ethical practice is smart business, protecting your reputation and enhancing your competitive position.
What should I do with the intelligence gathered through calls?
Look beyond the obvious and scan for trends, opportunities, and threats using competitive intelligence research. Feed this knowledge back to your advocacy decision-makers and apply it to strategic decisions, marketing, or product development for a greater competitive edge.
How can I ensure my CI calls are ethical?
Don’t hide the ball on who you are and what you want to know regarding competitive insights. No puffery or shady moves, and you can’t ask for any proprietary intel. Following ethical guidelines in conducting competitive intelligence establishes you as a trustworthy and credible source of information.
What other methods can I use alongside strategic calling for CI?
Mix conducting competitive intelligence gathering via strategic calling with in-depth online research, social media monitoring, public records, and industry reports. Delivering this omnichannel experience allows you to paint a wider, richer, and more precise competitive landscape analysis.