Competitive Intelligence – Sophisticated or Quick & Dirty

By Barbara Demarest • April 9th, 2010

Inc. has been posting some very good information on “how to” do things related to a small business.  One of their posts that caught my attention was about the secrets of competitive intelligence.  The post talked about how important it is for companies of all sizes to know what is going on around them and to pay attention to the competition.  And that small companies may need to be even more attentive to their competitors.

Two key suggestions in the article were that you should know yourself first and then figure out what matters in your competitive space.  The author quotes experts who offer ways to track what your competitors are doing and how to keep up with what your market is looking for from its suppliers.

A number of resources were mentioned in the article, including:

The writers at Inc. point out that you need clarity and discipline to “be in the game.”  The MBA in me got very excited to read about these tools and be reminded of SWOT analyses and competitive mapping, but I also thought about how much time and discipline these activities take.  If you can check out the Inc. article, I encourage you to do so, it is excellent, but if you don’t think you can implement the more sophisticated system they mention, you might want to read a little bit about Howie Jacobson’s Checkmate.  Don’t let the semi-cheesy sales page fool you, this is some really helpful stuff.  Howie has taken what he knows about Adwords — which is enough to get the “for Dummies” book people to ask him to write the Google Adwords for Dummies books — and has taken on competitive positioning.  In about an hour, using the Checkmate matrix, I was able to outline my client’s competitive space.  I used the Google search page for the keywords that were important to my client and then went to town.  I strongly believe in the competitive intelligence work outlined by Inc.  That’s good stuff, but for quick and dirty and getting me started, I have to say what I learned via Checkmate was pretty powerful and something I can do easily at any time I need to check in on my positioning.

I’ve gotten to know Howie since he moved to about an hour’s drive me, so let me know if you are interested in Checkmate, I might be able to help you get connected or even get a discount.  Just email me at info@barbarademarest.com.

Barbara Demarest (www.barbarademarest.com) received her MBA from the Babcock School of Management at Wake Forest University and her BA from Duke University. After 20 years at the Center for Creative Leadership, Barbara launched a strategy and development consulting practice focusing on people leading change in associations, foundations, universities, nonprofits and knowledge businesses.  You can find Barbara’s executive coaching profile on www.thecoachingassociation.com.

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