Competitive Intelligence Gathering for Business Purposes

In business the more you know about your competition, the more effectively you can respond to any actions made by them. I compare the business world to a war. When you know the actions of the enemy you are able to respond to it effectively or even catch them off guard by making an unexpected assault at them. Just like in a war, intelligence is crucial to knowing the actions of your enemy. The more that you know about your competition the more likely you are going to be able to make critical decisions that will allow you to compete.

The method in which you gather competitive intelligence information is completely different from one type of business to another. This makes it incredibly difficult to make a blanket statement on how to generally obtain intelligence on the competition. The method of attainment is also going to change depending upon the type of information you are trying to obtain.

Probably the easiest method of obtaining competitive intelligence in business, about your competition is to simply call them. It is amazing how much information the secretary will give you about the company. If you are looking to gain information about their pricing, their products, and other information that is somewhat available anyway, then this method can be quite effective. If they have a storefront you could easily walk into their store and look over things this way as well. In fact, many will take small cameras into a store location so that they can take pictures of the different products, in store marketing, and layout. All of these things can have a major impact on the success of a business and it is important to know these things.

Sometimes the basic information just isn't enough. For this reason many businesses will install an insider to obtain further information about the company. This is typically done by having a loyal get a job with the competitor. By doing this you can discover information about training. You can learn about their computer systems. You can even learn about the different strategies that the company has in the near future. The loyal would know what types of information they are looking for and would attempt to listen carefully so they can get this information. They would then report back to explain the details. Depending upon their position they could even have access to customer lists, product information, pricing, and a variety of other details that could be competitive secrets.

Also, having someone on the inside can allow you to obtain information on marketing details for the company. If you know when your competition is having a sale and know how they are promoting it, you can run a promotion the same day that is slightly better ultimately taking some of the thunder away from your competition. Imagine seeing a commercial advertising 10% off everything and you put out a commercial advertising 15% off everything. Those interested are most likely going to take advantage of the 15% off. This would be a huge coup.

Another way that you can obtain information about your competition in an outside sales environment is by inviting them to your house. For example, if you own a pool company and want more information about your competitive intelligence jobs, have them come over and give quotes. By doing this you can hear more about their presentation. You can find out about how they price things out. You can even ask questions that could get the employee to give you far more information than they realize.

While many say that competitive intelligence can be running the line of what is ethical and what isn't, sometimes in business you have to do what is necessary to take the competitive edge. The only way to do this is to know what your competition is up to and find a way to strike first.