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This Week's Theme: Competitive Analysis

The questions I have selected for this week center around competitive analysis. Who does it, and what does it consist of? What kind of deliverables should you aim for? What can competitive analysis be used for?

So let's see what our readers have on their minds.

Dear Product Manager,

I'm a Director of Product Management for a well-established software application. After a lot of discussion about whether Marketing should be responsible for competitive analysis, the executive team is looking to me to shoulder the responsibility. I know from past experience that this is a tall order, and am wondering how I go about making this solely the responsibility of product management. What do you think?

— I Could Use Just a Little Help

Dear Just a Little Help,

Here's what I'm reading into your situation: A well established software application probably has well structured teams for sales, marketing, development, and customer support. You also probably have existing competitive information from previous efforts, perhaps scattered around the organization. Finally, either Marketing did this in the past and doesn't want to keep doing it, or the executive team wants different results than what Marketing previously provided.

So first off, clarify with the executive team what specifically is desired from the competitive analysis. Also, determine whether there is a desire for something different from what was provided before, and if so, what is it that they want? Next, realize that you don't have to be like Atlas, bearing the whole weight of this on your shoulders. Think of yourself more like a leader of a company of troops, where the troops already have a whole arsenal of weapons, and it's your job to focus that arsenal on the specific mission at hand. You may need to do a lot of the legwork to gather the information — it's probably in lots of people's heads, and you need to get them talking while you're the one doing the writing down — but you can probably gather a trove of information from sales reps, past presentations (though outdated), marketing staff, customer support reps, and any customer-facing employees such as consultants. And you'll rely heavily on the most experienced managers. As you or the product managers working for you gather, centralize, and analyze the information, you will play a pivotal part because you'll have the full story, even if many of the pieces came from other departments.

— Signed, Product Manager

Dear Product Manager,

I have been assigned to do competitive analysis of our marketplace. The product managers before me were also assigned to do this, but nothing was ever really done. It's really hard for me to know where to start and what exactly to do, since there's so much that could be done. This could be a real time sink for me, and I'm not sure what I would have to show for it. This makes it all that much harder to get started when there are other priorities like requirements and launching new releases. Do you have any suggestions for where to get started with the competitive analysis and how to make it a manageable effort?

— Analysis Paralysis

Dear Analysis Paralysis,

It's no surprise to me to hear that your predecessors didn't get around to doing competitive analysis, and that you're having trouble knowing where to get started. That's because competitive analysis can be a lot of work, not to mention the scope is often unclear. But if you're struggling with a reason why you would want to do it at all, think about it this way: understanding and matching your competitors, or (ideally) exceeding them, is one of the prime functions of product management. The competitive landscape and trends should be one of the key factors that determine which new features get top priority. That means competitive analysis is just as important to your product's success as developing product requirements or ensuring a strong market launch.

In your case I would say that what's important is not exactly what you do, but that you do it. One approach you can take is to make it an ongoing timeboxed effort where you schedule, say, two hours a week to build your information. Like your own product, your competitors consist of products created by companies. Collecting information about the products and the companies that you compare to your own product and company is a good start. You can aim to build a relatively basic table that can be turned into a PowerPoint slide. Use the Notes pages of the slides to record sources or backup/justification for what you put in the table. Once you have some decent comparative tables built, run them by members of the management team to get their feedback and find out where they would like you to dig for additional information.

— Signed, Product Manager

Dear Product Manager

I provide a lot of support to the sales organization as part of my product management job. Our sales managers tell me that the reps really don't understand much about the competition and consequently are very weak in competitive sales. I would like to provide some competitive analysis for our sales force, but wonder what would be most useful for them. It seems like the kind of competitive marketing information I have created before is not something the sales reps can run with. What kind of useful competitive information can I provide to the sales reps?

— Looking to Sell

Dear Looking to Sell,

Because competitive analysis can be such a time-consuming effort, work on providing information in multiple rounds, a little additional info with each new round — and set expectations with sales management accordingly. You're right that marketing information does not always prove to be a practical tool during a sales call. The first thing I would focus on is only partially related to competitive analysis, and that is making sure that the sales reps know the product messaging and are clear on which points in that messaging help you win against which competitors. The second thing I would do is pull together a basic competitive comparison of products and companies, including the names of the products, whether they are hosted or customer-hosted, basic info about accompanying services, training and support, and information on company location, size, and sales channels. The third round can focus on unique features or advantages that each competitor touts. Create a presentation that lists these features, something along the lines of: "When your prospect asks you about feature A, then they are probably considering Product B. Here's the message you want to get across in that case."

The other aspect of helping out Sales is to get the word out that you are tracking competitive information for them, and when a prospect mentions an unfamiliar feature or product, to come to you to do some quick research. When they do reach out to you, get back to the sales rep with a little background on the competitor and their product, and what to say to portray your own product in the best light.

Signed, Product Manager

Dear Product Manager,

We have a number of competitors that are private companies. Unlike our own (public) company, they don't make their financials and other information public. I have had a lot of success combing through annual reports to get information on publicly traded competitors. For the private competitors, what kind of information can I find?

— Private Eye

Dear Private Eye

This is where Google is a great tool for competitive intelligence! I have been amazed at the depth and detail of information I have been able to uncover on small, private competitors, as well as public ones. Here's what I usually do. I google the product name and the name of the company and go through several pages, even a dozen pages, of search results. You may find comments from customers on message boards, and legal proceedings with public documents that may provide significant details about the company such as number of customers or revenues for a specific time period, used as supporting facts in a case.

Don't shy away from looking through many pages of search results. I have gotten access to web-based product portals installed for customers of a competitor. These showed up in Google because the screen included the words: "Copyright (Year) Company A."

I also google the names of management team members and owners mentioned on the website (ex: companyname "john doe"), which often turns up news stories about presentations they have made, or even PDFs or PowerPoints of the presentations themselves. These often yield great facts such as number of customers, number of employees, total revenues, number of new customers signed in recent months, and more. This is generally not a very linear process, and you need to set aside the time to pore over the search results and try many different combinations of search words. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised by what you come up with. And finally, I'll point out that these same kind of searches are good for competitors who are smaller business units of a large public company, where their numbers are not broken out in the financial statements.

— Signed, Product Manager

Dear Product Manager,

When doing competitive analysis, I have had good success getting basic information on companies and products that compete with us. However, I'd like to get better information about the organizational structure and individual people who work at our competitors. How do I go about finding out info on the human resources side of things?

— It's Personal

Dear Personal

I have had significant success by using Linked In. It is now used by millions, and has a very high adoption rate in the software and technology industries, so many people from competing companies will be on there. Start with the management team mentioned on the company's website and work your way through them by searching for them on Linked In. Also, search for the company to call up a list of individuals who work there. Sometimes the name is partially obscured, but the job titles can be just as important in telling you what kind of positions and team structure your competitor has. And once you find the names, don't forget to google them to see if they have made any presentations at conferences or other events that may provide more useful intel.

— Signed, Product Manager

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