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Greg Gsell

AMA: Attentive VP, Product Marketing, Greg Gsell on Competitive Positioning

March 23, 2023 @ 9:00AM PT

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  1. What messaging and persona framework do you use and how much of competitive positioning do you cover in Messaging?

    Greg Gsell
    Greg Gsell

    Datadog VP, Product Marketing | Formerly Salesforce, Attentive • 3y

    Competitive positioning and messaging have to be one and the same. When you look at your decks and positioning, you need to do the gut check of "can my competitors say this" and if yes, change your messaging. You need to build competitive differentiation from the first impression through the entire sales cycle and at renewal. 

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  2. What are some great examples of bold — yet tasteful — competitive positioning you've seen in the market? How can companies straddle the line without turning it into a game of finger-pointing?

    Greg Gsell
    Greg Gsell

    Datadog VP, Product Marketing | Formerly Salesforce, Attentive • 3y

    I will answer this question the total opposite way that you asked it based on something I saw this morning. I was making my son a bagel with cream cheese. The cream cheese had a logo saying "Our cows saw NOOOOO to ABCDE hormone". I am not here to comment on anything to do with farming. What struck me is right next to the logo, in LARGER FONT, was a warning saying "there is no evidence ABCDE hormone has any negative impact".  I was kind of taken aback. What is the point of anchoring on this diffe ...Read More

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  3. What are the top documents you create when working on Competitive Positioning programs?

    Greg Gsell
    Greg Gsell

    Datadog VP, Product Marketing | Formerly Salesforce, Attentive • 3y

    I think there are a couple of different docs that I would use, depending on the audience (internal, external) and the competitor (are you ahead, behind) INTERNAL resources Feature comparisons "Killer" features that set you apart Common objections Loaded discovery questions (I love these, questions your reps can use to purposefully attack a weakness) Switch stories Deal win stories (these are different than switch stories. Dive into how the rep positioned to overcome competitive objections) Prici ...Read More

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  4. Relying on narrative differentiation is obviously essential when products are essentially the same across you and your competitor set, but it's also a tough thing to do? Any advice?

    Greg Gsell
    Greg Gsell

    Datadog VP, Product Marketing | Formerly Salesforce, Attentive • 3y

    You have to pick something to focus on. Find whatever edge you can and make it seem like the biggest deal in the world. 

    You can also talk about the sum of the parts as the narrative. 

    Another approach is if the products are similar, go after a different audience or go bigger on one specific industry. Become THE solution for one subvertical 

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  5. How do you create competitive intel that is really beneficial to sales (i.e. they actually read and use it)?

    Greg Gsell
    Greg Gsell

    Datadog VP, Product Marketing | Formerly Salesforce, Attentive • 3y

    I try to use the Pyramid approach to all content. Start with just absolute essential information, then expand. This way sales reps are able to capture the exact right amount of information in the most efficient way possible.  For example, say we are an apple company and our competition is those pesky orange growers from across town. I would structure my competitive teardown content like:  Main message Your time is valuable, don't waste it peeling an orange. Apples are ready to eat at a moment's ...Read More

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  6. Winning NEW customers vs. Retaining EXISTING customers - which do you prioritize, and how do you drive your team based on that?

    Greg Gsell
    Greg Gsell

    Datadog VP, Product Marketing | Formerly Salesforce, Attentive • 3y

    I have worked at two different companies and we approached it entirely differently.  At the first company, we were far and away the market leader and defined the space. Here, we almost entirely focused on new logo acquisition for competition. If we won up front, we had the better product and were very sticky, plus the cost of switching vendors was very high, so the risk of churn was much lower.  At my current company, we are in a highly competitive space. We are really good at new logo acquisiti ...Read More

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  7. What constitutes a competitor, and what is the goal you have in mind when you conduct competitor analysis?

    What is your philosophy when it comes to competitors?

    Greg Gsell
    Greg Gsell

    Datadog VP, Product Marketing | Formerly Salesforce, Attentive • 3y

    'I think a competitor is anyone who is in or adjacent to your space. Said another way, a competitor is a vendor that can cause confusion or slow down your sales cycle for some reason. There are a few different types of competitors: Main competitors - the ones who you are competing with head on and can materially impact your revenue if you dont win. Spend most of your time on these.  Ankle biters - these are competitors that only impact part of your TAM. Ie a vendor who only goes after SMB. These ...Read More

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  8. How do you obtain competitive intelligence on a competitor's product that has very little public-facing marketing around it?

    I'm about to just call and ask them if they still sell it.

    Greg Gsell
    Greg Gsell

    Datadog VP, Product Marketing | Formerly Salesforce, Attentive • 3y

    Call them! It is all fair game. Going deep on youtube and searching their exec team is also a great resource. Odds are even if they don't have public content, the CEO has spoken at a conference at some point. I always get a lot of info from new hires who came from competitors as well. You can work with recruiting and HR onboarding to create a process to ask where employees came from 

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