Andrew McCotter-Bicknell
Head of Competitive Intel, Apollo.io
About
Hey there, I'm Andy 🙂
I'm the proud creator and owner of ClickUp's Competitive Intelligence program. My job is to inform our leadership and product teams of relevant market trends, and enable our sales team to win more competitive deals.
Content
Andrew McCotter-Bicknell
Apollo.io Head of Competitive Intel • October 18
That's one way you can segment competitors. A few others you may want to consider: * Persona that's most likely to purchase the competitor * Company size that's most likely to purchase the competitor * Cost of competitor * Region where the competitor is most popular * Products that the comp......Read More
1081 Views
Andrew McCotter-Bicknell
Apollo.io Head of Competitive Intel • October 18
Most Competitive Intel functions begin as siloed efforts within organizations. Product, Sales, Marketing, executives... they're all interested in competitors and conduct their own research for different purposes—with or without a formal CI program. But by implementing a formal CI program, the res......Read More
941 Views
Andrew McCotter-Bicknell
Apollo.io Head of Competitive Intel • October 18
I had one gut reaction when I read this question. "Why isn't there much public-facing marketing around it?" A few thoughts come to mind: 1. They discontinued the product (try checking publicly-facing knowledge centers, if they have any, to confirm) 2. They rebranded the product (this happ......Read More
894 Views
Andrew McCotter-Bicknell
Apollo.io Head of Competitive Intel • October 18
To be 100% honest, I only have experience in SaaS so I'm probably not the best guy to answer this question. But I would venture a guess that win/loss could still help here. You'd be amazed at the info you could access if you have a great relationship with prospects, buyers, customers, etc. ......Read More
858 Views
Andrew McCotter-Bicknell
Apollo.io Head of Competitive Intel • October 18
There are a few documents that I maintain over time: 1. Competitor product releases for the Product team (updated monthly) 2. Competitive battlecards for the Sales team (updated as needed) 3. Win/Loss reporting (updated quarterly-to-semi annually) Each of these docs helps a specific audience......Read More
842 Views
Andrew McCotter-Bicknell
Apollo.io Head of Competitive Intel • October 18
First, there is no one magic tool that will do your Competitive Intel program for you. All of the tools below require a strategy before using. But they can be extremely powerful when you use them correctly. For competitive alerts, battlecard creation, and win/loss reporting, try looking at Klu......Read More
816 Views
Andrew McCotter-Bicknell
Apollo.io Head of Competitive Intel • October 18
There are two directions to answering this question: 1. Frequency of delivery 2. Content Frequency is important because Sales is constantly bombarded with info. You have to get in front of them consistently with different materials like presentations, documents, customer-facing assets, etc. t......Read More
770 Views
Andrew McCotter-Bicknell
Apollo.io Head of Competitive Intel • October 18
Get them involved. Interview them to learn about their encounters with competitors. Here are things that I regularly ask my sellers. * Which competitors are coming up most in conversations with buyers? * What are buyers specifically asking about? * What assets would help you win more compe......Read More
691 Views
Andrew McCotter-Bicknell
Apollo.io Head of Competitive Intel • October 18
Yeah, there's a lot of new info flowing every day. But a lot of it is noise. First make sure you understand what's important to the company. What are the big goals you're trying to hit? What's the direction that your product is going in? With those things in mind, you should be able to filter ......Read More
534 Views
Andrew McCotter-Bicknell
Apollo.io Head of Competitive Intel • October 18
Competitive win rate is a great north star goal. But it can be challenging to accurately impact that in a positive way in a short amount of time. A couple other KPIs I've used in the past and that I recommend: 1. Competitor confidence (from the sales team) 2. Project-based contribution If......Read More
528 Views
Credentials & Highlights
Head of Competitive Intel at Apollo.io
Top Product Marketing Mentor List
Product Marketing AMA Contributor
Lives In Vancouver, WA
Knows About Competitive Sales Enablement, Competitive Positioning