Plain-English definitions of the terms competitive intelligence, sales and product teams use every day. Start with any term to understand what it means and how it fits into a modern CI program.
The practice of gathering and analysing public information about your competitors to make better business decisions.
A concise reference sheet that helps sales reps position your product against a specific competitor in live deals.
A structured review of why you win and lose deals, used to sharpen positioning, product and sales execution.
How you define and communicate your distinct place in the market relative to alternatives buyers consider.
The ongoing tracking of competitors’ public activity so you notice meaningful changes as they happen.
Insight into the broader market (customers, trends, segments and dynamics) beyond any single competitor.
A simple framework for assessing your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to guide strategy.
A clear statement of the specific benefit you deliver, for whom, and why it beats the alternatives.
The plan for how you reach, win and keep customers, covering segments, channels, pricing and messaging.
A structured assessment of competitors’ strategies, strengths and weaknesses to inform your own decisions.
Equipping sales teams with the content, tools and knowledge they need to win more deals.
Tracking competitors’ prices and packaging over time so you can respond to changes quickly.
Your brand’s visibility in a market relative to competitors, across channels like search, social and advertising.
Comparing your performance, features or metrics against competitors to find gaps and opportunities.
How you frame a specific product’s benefits and category so the right buyers see why it fits their needs.
The percentage of competitive deals you close, often tracked per competitor to see who you beat and who beats you.
The total revenue opportunity available if a product captured every potential customer in its market.
The portion of total sales in a market that one company captures, a core measure of competitive standing.
A durable advantage that protects a company from competitors, such as network effects, switching costs or brand.
A framework for analysing the competitive pressures in an industry across five distinct forces.
A framework for scanning the political, economic, social and technological factors that affect a market.
A grid that compares competitors across features, pricing or positioning to reveal gaps and overlaps.
A side-by-side breakdown of how a product stacks up against competitors on specific capabilities.
The practice of monitoring competitors’ paid advertising to understand their messaging, offers and spend.
Assessing whether opinions expressed about a brand or product are positive, negative or neutral.
A structured conversation with a buyer after a deal closes to learn why you won or lost.
A deep, hands-on analysis of a competitor’s product, pricing and positioning to learn how they win.
A concise internal statement of who a product is for, what it does and why it is different.
A description of the type of company or buyer that gets the most value from your product and is best to sell to.
The rate at which customers stop using or paying for a product over a given period.
Defining and popularising a new market category that a company is positioned to lead.
The overall picture of all the competitors in a market and how they relate to one another.
How sales reps respond to a buyer’s concerns, including the concerns raised by a competitor.
Winning a customer away from a competitor they were already using, rather than from no solution.