Some Simple Tips To Effectively Implement A Competitive Intelligence Research

By Author: Vijay K Shetty
Total Articles: 2541
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Whether you are an executive or an entrepreneur, your key to success depends strongly on how you interpret go-to-market strategies of your competition and how you decide to tackle them. It is often the case that entrepreneurial pioneers spend about a year or two decoding their competitor’s strategies and then developing a product that arrests areas of interest that their competition does not cater to. It is your responsibility to understand the competition and how it works. Once you identify them and you acquire relevant information, you can develop a product and promotional strategies that will help in creating sales.

1. First, identify your business. You have to know the industry in which you belong. Identify the region or location that you are most prominent in or situated. You should also take note what other similar companies the customers are visiting aside from your own. This will help you in identifying the general market and your general position in that market.

2. Searching using competitive intelligence will require you to exhaust all possible means of acquiring information such as phone numbers, newspaper ...
... ads, as well as local establishments. You can also scout the internet for resources about the list of related companies on your industry. They are your competitors. You might also want to search even deeper details but only use methods that are valid. Illegal search methods and acquition of business related info is called industrial espionage.

3. You will normally have a heavily loaded file fo information and various web pages or news clippings about the competition. Organize these information by creating a table. Categorize the data based on how you want to view the table. You can create several tables that will include basic business profiles and then essential information and supporting details.

4. When you finish with your grid/table, it is now time to analyze and evaluate. Make a formal report and proposal that you can present to your business partners and you can also create a presentation if you are pitching a product or setting up a business. This will give you a soild grounding about the companies. You also need to be aware of what the company's targets are. This will give you a more holistic understanding about what the market is made of and how you can compete.

5. With all these information, it is essential to put everything into a concrete action. Knowing that the competition has this advantage or disadvantage or if the company has a unique focus or motivation compared to others, you can identify more or less what to do to transform your business to a competitive brand locally or nationally.

Vijay K Shetty, Platinum Level Author.
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