1. Mark WoodSeptember 10, 2011

2. 1. Improve the effectiveness of your sales channel(s)You should be able to measure an improvement inwin-loss percentage or sales cycle length2. Improve the effectiveness of targeted marketingYou should be able to measure an increase in lead generationfor specific market segments3. Inform your own decision making as a PMBe careful! Dont assume the opposing product managerknows the market as well as or better than you do. Mark Wood 2011. All Rights Reserved. 3. Other suggestions for how to measure the effect ofCompetitive Analysis on business efficiency? Mark Wood 2011. All Rights Reserved. 4. SourceCredibility How to get it Buy it Trade for itTheir product100% Have one of their customers give you accessTheir customers & User groups CAC/Win-loss Help forum 75%prospects Enhancement forum Blogs, social media Web site, white papers, etc. SEC filingsTheir marketing50% Their social media feeds TradeshowsIndustry analysts50% Industry analysts libraries Job boards SEO analytics/adword buysInternet chatter 25% LinkedIn.com Google Alerts Hire them Interview/phone screen themTheir employees** Dumpster dive Mark Wood 2011. All Rights Reserved. 5. Other data sources? Ways to get them? Mark Wood 2011. All Rights Reserved. 6. Product vs. Product My product is a better fit for you than theirs is My product does more My product costs less Product Line vs. Product Line Our product line is [ superior | more integrated ] than theirs Company vs. Company We are a better partner for you (sales, support, services, etc.) Nobody ever got fired for buying IBM Mark Wood 2011. All Rights Reserved. 7. One for you Another for internal (sales)consumption Another (?) for external use Important! Create ataxonomy I use *any* feature that *any*competitor claims Objectivity is key here without this, its just amarketing piece However, use some judgment;market must care Mark Wood 2011. All Rights Reserved. 8. Dont just do product features Include relevant product line or company data. Are you $45B company competing with a startup? Make financialstability an issue. Make Will they be around tomorrow? orWill they be bought by someone you dislike? issues Identify 3-5 items that form the foundation of yourcompetitive reasoning and are: Defensible Demonstrable Meaningful to the buyer Avoid hype or BS This is why you should do this!! Mark Wood 2011. All Rights Reserved. 9. I like to do this off the matrix Strength: We have it, others dont Weakness: We lack it, others have it Opportunity: We lack it, others lack it, too Common: We have it, others do, too =table stakes for the market Threats are things not on the matrix yet Easy to automate in Excel Set a global threshold ($T$1) IF (AND(our cell is blank, count ofcompetitors > THRESHOLD), W, ) Mark Wood 2011. All Rights Reserved. 10. When you know What your strengths are and How to compete most effectively You can help sales qualify prospects more quickly Try to give them three questions they can ask toidentify deals they can win more quickly If used by sales, this can yield better win-loss andshorter sales cycles Mark Wood 2011. All Rights Reserved. 11. You can also poison the mind of the prospectagainst specific competition when you have thisinformation I like to give sales Five Questions to make sureremain in the mind of the prospect Subtle: Raise these as important advantages without mentioning competitors explicitly Not-so-subtle: Say Ask these guys these questions when they show up Important: These must be real issues and not easily refuted. If the competitor can easily bat these away, then your sales team loses credibility Mark Wood 2011. All Rights Reserved. 12. A second-order analysis Look at the competitive matrix with a competitors eye What would you say if you were the competitor? How can your sales team respond effectively? Can you plant your responses in the mind of the prospect beforethe competition does, so that competition strategy is DOA? I like to give the sales team Three Issues theCompetition Will Raise and How To Respond Mark Wood 2011. All Rights Reserved. 13. A way to help Marketing is to write positioningdocuments for each of your products These should Emphasize your key competitive advantages AND Help Marketing identify high-quality prospect for the product Mark Wood 2011. All Rights Reserved. 14. Any other assets yall have created or usedeffectively? Mark Wood 2011. All Rights Reserved. 15. A solid analysis, with competitor product/serviceavailable, takes a full week. Including time to create sales and marketing assets Involving QA can sometimes be positive, too I like to try and update assets at least once per year But you may need to do it more often If youre successful with Sales and Marketing, theyllbecome allies in making time to do this Mark Wood 2011. All Rights Reserved. 16. Thanks for your participation today! Enjoy the rest of ProductCamp. Mark Wood 2011. All Rights Reserved.