We are standing up a new competitive intelligence function at my current company. What do you consider must-haves?

A good competitive intelligence function starts with great listening. Engaging your frontline (both sales AND customer success...why you are losing deals is good insight, but why you are losing customers is incredibly powerful), win/loss reports, gleaning insights from your customer experience and brand tracking programs, dark funnel data, first party research when possible.... Establishing listening upfront will help you then get a clearer picture of where you need to focus. Which competitors i ...Read More

First off, congrats! The positive impact that can have on revenue and growth is pretty remarkable. When standing up a new function, I always think broadly to start. For example, when considering “competitors”—think beyond your direct competitors so you can cover a more robust scope. A company in a parallel industry can be just as helpful a case study as one in the same industry. At OkCupid, we’re often looking to social media and self-improvement apps for inspiration. Analysis will also be key. ...Read More

We recently stood up our CI function at SurveyMonkey a couple years ago. Before then, competitive intel responsibilities were previously scattered and shared across the product marketing team. CI as a dedicated role is still growing, so you may find it challenging to find someone with a CI background. Our current CI lead had an education & product marketing background, and is FABULOUS in the role :) When hiring someone to stand up CI, these were the must-haves we looked for: Research experie ...Read More

When standing up a new competitive intelligence function at a company, some things you'd want to consider are: Accurate data: Is your field team accurately documenting the competition in each deal? Comb through your CRM and look at recent wins/losses. Who are the top 5-10 competitors you see most often? Communicate with sales: Whether or not you have the data in the CRM, it's important to get some time with each member of your field to see who they think the top 3 competitors are. Who do they se ...Read More