How can you gather competitive intelligence in a crowded market?

Market insights are best derived by tapping into the ecosystem that operates within a target market. The best sources are sales reps, consultants, and systems integrators.

There are a couple ways to identify your competitors if you don't know them already. One is to search your own companies name and see what other companies come up. If another company shows up, they consider you a competitor so most likely you'd consider them to be. Second, you can search your industry and see who pops up. Finally, you can always leverage third party consulting data such as Gartner's magic quadrants or other consulting firm reports. There are many other strategies of identifying competitors but these are probably the easiest to get started with. Bonus idea, ask you prospects/customers, some are more than willing to share who else they are talking to with to solve their current problem.

Keep an eye on the other competitors in the market. Understanding their strong and weak points would help you identify the value proposition of your solution and the uniqueness you want to demostrate.

LinkedIn would be one of the best sources of information. Organizations regularly share feature updates, industry insights and view of their leadership. A great tool for getting the right insights.

Other than a companies actual marketing from their website and company LinkedIn, be sure to monitor their executives for talks/podcasts they do or posts they make. Also pay attention to partners of the competition or any new partnerships they announce. This can give you insights of where they might be going next.

If your competitor give access to a free trial, 100% request one. Be sure to use your work information, there is no need to be incognito about asking for a trial. If they give you one, knowing you are a competitor, they either don't care or don't monitor their trials. Both pieces of information can help determine what type of strategy you use. Also, many companies will do webinars where they will have product demos, whether they host it themselves or its a demo day type of event. Attend those and see how their SEs showcase their products. This will show you what the flex and what they avoid.

During sales engineering operations, you can gather competitive analysis by: 1. **Market Research:** Stay updated with industry reports, whitepapers, and case studies that provide insights into competitors' strategies and offerings. 2. **Customer Feedback:** Engage with current and potential customers to understand their experiences and perceptions of competitors' products or services. 3. **Online Monitoring:** Utilize social media, forums, and review sites to track competitors' activities and customer sentiment. 4. **Sales Interactions:** Pay attention to information shared during sales meetings or negotiations, as customers may mention competitors' offerings.

In almost 20 years in the industry, I've learned the most valuable resource for understanding competitors, their strengths, weaknesses, and differentiators, is the customers themselves. It's increasingly rare in my field that a prospect is not, or has never, worked with a competing solution. I whole-heartedly appreciate their feedback and impressions good, bad, or indifferent. I wouldn't expect a prospect to take my word for a competitor any more than they should take their word about my solution. But, the voice of the customer speaks volumes. There's no more valuable source of information, and nothing that carries more weight with prospects.

Gather and analyze customer feedback and reviews about competitors' products or services. Pay attention to common pain points, areas of dissatisfaction, and unmet needs. This information can help identify opportunities for differentiation and improvement.

Gong has been a great tool to collect and subsequently codify competitive intel. We use wiki as well as some competitive battlecards built with google slides to evangelize knowledge across the org. Additionally, role playing activities and sharing wins on deals in sales all hands are great ways to disseminate competitive knowledge across the team.

In my experience the best way is understanding the market to be achieved, what are the key factors that influence the customer decision and what are the expectations of the company that you work for this market. If your company wants to gain share or will be focusing in specific projects will guide your strategy to define your competitors and set your strategy. Sharing your knowledge about the market internally will support the company decision to make the most effective move.

Encourage employees to share observations, insights, and rumors they hear about competitors in the market. Sales, marketing, and customer support teams are often on the front lines and can provide valuable intelligence about competitor activities and customer reactions.

Extensive networks and strong relationship-building skills can indeed go a long way. With these in place, gaining insights, including competitive insights, becomes easier. However, what's crucial is leveraging these insights effectively. Instead of using insights to downplay the competition, it's more graceful to leverage them to find a competitive differentiator. This approach highlights how our solution brings unparalleled value and positive impact to the customer's business bottom line.

Leverage relationships with partners, suppliers, and distributors to gather intelligence about competitors' activities, partnerships, and supply chain strategies. Insights from these sources can help identify emerging threats and opportunities in the market.