COMPETITIVE

INTELLIGENCE
for service providers

Presented by Sam Berner, Arabic Communication

Experts
sberner@arabic.com.au
OUTLINE of WORKSHOP
• Definitions
• Reasoning
• Types of Competition
• What CI to gather?
• How do harvest?
• What to do with the wheat?
(1) Definitions
Competition
• Anything and anyone who sends
clients and their $$ away from
your door.
Services (us!)
• Fragmented industry of large # of small micro
businesses
  no single entity with a significant market
share,
  no single influencer to set an agenda for the
industry
• Dependent on location (oh, yeah!)
• Close personal control of ownership
• Training = higher competitive advantage
• Deals in concepts not products => open to
replication (competitive threat)
• Key unit of inventory is TIME (cannot be
returned/reused/resold)
• Best marketing is WOM (so be WOW!)
Competitive Intelligence (CI)
• Systemic & Ethical program
• for gathering, analyzing, and
managing external information
• that enhances your marketplace
competitiveness
• through a greater
understanding of your
competitors and the competitive
environment.
(2) Reasoning
Why gather CI?
• Thrive + Spot + Protect
• Increases sales and market share
• Protects your business from new
threats
• Helps grow existing business
making it easier/better at spotting
opportunities
• Develops sustainable competitive
advantage – deal with stuff before
the stuff deals with you
 Difficulties
• Invisible marketing
• No goods to look at
• Output hard to measure
• Invisible pricing
• Constant change in competition
• Generalisations are dangerous
• Trying to hit a moving target
 (3) Types
of Competition
 Overview
1. The client
2. The influencer
3. The Big Brother
4. Traditional competitors
5. Internal competitors
6. Left-field competitors
 The Client
• Biggest and most overlooked competitor
• Decision making, emotional experiences with
other services (bad apples)
• Lumps you with the rest
• Substitutes you with people from outside your
industry
• Apathy
• Reluctance to change supplier even if they suck
• Unable to plan/decide ahead
• DIY mentality
• Ignorant
• Has perceptions
• Too many/too few similar service providers =
paralysis by analysis
The Client – what to do?
• Befriend and stay in touch
• Keep up to date on their industry
news
• Understand the psychology of key
decision makers
• Build trust and relationships
• Keep an eye on personnel changes
• Beware the minions with small dog
syndrome or urge to show off.
The Influencer
• Decision makers, colleagues,
friends, other consultants
involved in the purchase
decision.
• Subjective? Irrational? Biased?
• Flat hierarchies create MANY
influencers
• Delegation creates influencers
• Gatekeepers
The Influencer – what to do?
• Find them -> target them
->educate them
• Remove gatekeepers if they are
not worthy working with
• Pay attention to the creation of
new influencers
The Big Borther (or is it Sister?)
• Public sector undercutting private
sector (TIS)
• Favouritism
• Capping wages
• Using cheaper labour
• Flooding market with competitors
• Legislation/regulations that
hampers the marketplace
The BS/BB – what to do?
• WEEP?
• Unionise?
• Work together with other small
businesses (not necessary T/I) to
badger the BS/BB until they
change what is irritating you
(optimistic long-distance
approach)
Direct Competitors
• Offer exactly the same, or very similar service
• Say that they do so
• Offer viable alternatives
• Operate in the same market as you
• Serve the same clients as you
• Difficult to compare, but compared they will be
by your clients
• Partial and full competitors
• Most not high profile, very niche, and often
hidden
• Copycats
• Pop up quickly, easy to set up
• If there is one major provider, you might be
seen as “second-best”
Direct Competition – what to do?
• Define who they are from client’s
point of view
• Identify the ones you don’t
compete with – they can become
allies
• Gather CI that is “need-to-know”
not “nice-to-know”
• Approach partnerships carefully
Internal Competition
• Things you do to sabotage yourself:
– Adamancy
– Time management
– Personality issues (shyness, ego, etc)
– High mindedness
– Inability to change
– Over-promising
– Perpetual upgrading
– Not enough CPD and industry info
Internal Competition – what to do?
• Spend some time reviewing how
you work
• Note aspects that need
improvement
• Implement a plan of action
Left-Field Competition - Definition
• Other factors that arise out of
nowhere, unexplained and
unpredictable, to disrupt your
business.
Left-Field Competition - Types
• Changes in demand
• 24/7
• New entrants with better technology
• New technology
• Globalisation >> increased competition
• Crowd sourcing
• Off-shoring
• Unionisation
• Economic boom and recession
• Client rationalises operations
• Hidden competition (outside in T/I)
• Commodisation
• Associations
Left-Field Competition – What to do?

• Keep your eyes and ears open

• Research a lot
• Think of various disaster
scenarios
• Change tactics (marketing,
delivery, even product)
• Stay positive – see it as a
challenge
(4) What CI to
Gather?
 Types of CI
• Locus
• Strategy
• Product/service
• Marketing
• Competence
• Quality of Service
• Pricing and Cost
• Identity, ownership, staff
 Locus
• Define your industry sector as your
client sees it:
– Agencies
(national/multinational/government)
– Freelancers
– Outsiders that are “hidden competition”
– Associations
– etc.
• No defined turf
• Here and overseas
• Maybe not in your industry?
• Don’t be snobbish.
 Strategy
• How do they respond to LF competition?
• What is their “positioning statement”?
• Is their service newer/more innovative?
• What is their mission statement?
• What values to they apply to their decision making?
• Can you fill in any gaps they have left?
• Are they making themselves a brand-name?
• How does their expertise compare to yours?
• What is their market-niche?
• Are they setting a trend?
• Are they optimising what they are good at?
• What is the services mix?
• What are the modes of delivery?
• How do they maximise client retention?
• How do they come across in their pricing strategy?
• What are their alliances?
 “Product”
• “Service” is largely invisible, tailored
to each customer.
• How do you compare oranges to
potatoes to exotic birds?
• It is what you offer “over and above”
that defines the difference.
• So define the service FIRST.
• “Cat-in-the-bag” for client, difficult to
evaluate.
• It is about THE POTENTIAL TO
DELIVER.
“Product” (cont.)
• What is your competitors’ potential
• CPD? Marketing? Business
communication? References? Previous
clients? What do these previous clients say?
• Are they focused?
• Do they provide added-value
• Do they provide integrated services?
• If you lose a job to them, do you know
why?
• What are their future plans?
• Sherlock Holmes at work here.
 Marketing
• Mostly not visible
• P2P & word of mouth
• Many contracts awarded on a
handshake
• If you are always a bridesmaid,
maybe it is time to look for a
different boyfriend?
Marketing (cont.)
• What is their hook?
• Do they host events?
• If not, do they regularly speak at other people’s
events?
• Do they sponsor?
• Are they on professional databases that provide
referrals?
• If not advertising, but busy – what is the secret?
• What are their CRs like?
• How do they segment their market? Is theirs
more fertile?
• How much of their advertising is “smoke &
mirrors”?
• How much are they spending on it?
Marketing (cont.)

YOU ARE LOOKING FOR

WHAT THEY DO RIGHT
& GO ONE BETTER.
YOU ARE LOOKING FOR
WHAT THEY MISSED &
STEP IN.
Competence
• Where do they deliver their
services?
• How are their services delivered?
• How long have they been
delivering?
• How long have they retained
clients?
• Is their delivery steady?
Quality of Service
• How do they satisfy their clients?
• How are they “different and better”?
• How available are they?
• How does the end product compare
with what they advertise?
• How do they measure client
satisfaction?
• How do they handle complaints?
• Do they have an 1800 number?
• Are they engaged with their
customers?
Pricing and Cost
• The most difficult part of CI
• Impacted by client perceptions of
price and value
• Often all you get is a range.
• The best CI here has to do with
knowing your customer’s budget.
• Can’t be understood without
knowledge of competitors costs.
• Beware of smoke-&-mirrors
Pricing and Cost (cont.)
• For fee or for free?
• What is being provided?
• Is it leading to something else?
• Does the price offered make sense?
• Are they trying to monopolise?
• How are they charging?
• Are they bundling services?
• Is there preferential pricing for long-term
clients? Big projects?
• Are they using bluff tactics?
• Do they low-ball their bids?
• Marketing $$ vs income $$
Pricing and Cost (cont.)
ADVICE
If you decide that you are
overpriced
(a) Adjust pricing; or
(b) Emphasize the additional
value added.
DO NOT UNDERCUT. YOU
ARE THE LOSER.
Identity, Ownership & Staff
• What qualifications they have?
• How are they perceived by clients?
• Are they going an extra mile?
• Any bad apples?
• Who is doing what?
• SWOT analysis
• What age range are they?
• How many?
• What experiences and expertise?
• How long have they been doing that?
• How long have they been with the same business?
• How do they manage their knowledge? Internally and
externally.
• How do they keep up to date?
• Who do they have drinks with?
Where to Look?
• Look in
– NAATI directory
– AUSIT, ATA, ITI, others
– Mailing list brokers
– Ads in industry publications
– Press releases
– Yellow pages and industry directories
– Websites (quote forms and content)
– RSS Google news and blogs
– Expos, conferences, academic
publications
– Social media
Where to Look? (cont.)
– Newsletters/get onto their mailing lists
– ads, press releases, photos
– Forums, chatrooms, social media
– Brochures, logos, letterheads, BC
– Keep an eye on new entrants
– Use FOI where possible (Contracts
awarded)
Where to Look?
• Look in:
– Conversations
– Use someone to do a phone review of
what clients think of their services
– Toll-free number
– Customers/suppliers who left them
– Tap into current and former clients:
• Ask clients if they mind sharing
quotes/proposals
• Network with clients/suppliers.
Keep eyes and ears open.
How to collect CI?
– Develop a CI mindset
– THINK: what information you
SHOULD be receiving, but aren’t
– Analyse your competition. This
will make you see patterns better:
• What sort of competition do they
represent?
• What external competitive forces are
you reckoning with?
• Who are the influencers?
How to collect CI? (cont.)
– Look at any major clients you lost and
analyse them
– Identify clients you would like to win, and
study your competition for each of them.
– Keep records of bids you lost, and review
them
– Collect > Read > Think > Analyse > Use..
– Be cost effective – let as much info as
possible come to you.
– Ask “What can I do better with this info?”
Your CI Checklist
1. Make the commitment
2. Identify needs and objectives
3. Identify the sources of
information
4. Use technology
5. Compile a report (brief)
6. Take action on the results
7. Evaluate against objectives
8. Make changes
The CI Grid
– Create a grid showing:
• Where your competition wants to be
• Where you are at the moment
– Is that good?
– Should you be somewhere else?
Lest you forget
•Avoid:
– Forgetting that your competitors will
also be trying to gain intelligence on
you.
– Spending money on researching those
who are no longer your competitors -
move with the market.
– Overstepping the ethical line.
– Imagining that by simply copying
competitors or beating them
fractionally to market is the key to
success; seeking greater differentiation
from the competition is the route to a
market advantage.
 Resources
• Google “gathering competitive
analysis” – read a lot of this stuff
before doing yours.
• Watch videos (heaps online)
• Go to a university and spend a
day browsing books on the topic.
Local libraries suck in this field
– they should be under 658.47
(or if at UQ, under HD38.7)