Tips on Getting Competitor Intelligence Statistics | Business

By LindaP.Morton
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Knowing how to gather competitor intelligence statistics provides you with information vital for good business and marketing decisions.

Tips for acquiring competitor intelligence statistics include answering two major questions.

What Businesses Comprise Your Competitors?

What Are Your Competitors' Intelligence Statistics?

Who Are Your Major Competitors?

The first kind of competitor intelligence statistics that you need to gather should provide details on your competitors.

This requires that you identify your competitors by answering the question "Who are your major competitors?"

Now don't answer this question quickly. Give it some serious thought and research before you begin gathering competitor intelligence statistics.

If another business is meeting the same customer need that you meet, then they are competing for that customer's money.

For instance, if you own a video store, you may think that only other video stores are your competitors. But in reality, all businesses competing for customers' entertainment money are competitors.

Once you've made a list of all your competitors, you need to gather competitor intelligence statistics that:

List your competitor's officer names,

Discover each competitor's reputation.

Determine which product is most important to each competitor,

Determine each competitor's total percent of business sales from that product,

Note the ownership status of each competitor,

Determine how many shares, that public corporation competitors still own,

Determine the value of each competitor's present shares,

Know how much cash each competitor has on hand.

Know how much venture capital supports each competitor,

Learn who the lead investors are for each competitor,

Determine how much each competitor has sold in the past two years,

Detemine what percent growth this meant for each competitor, and

Locate each competitor's primary sales channel.

When you have gathered these competitor intelligence statistics and information, you will have a good understanding of your major competitors.

What Are Your Competitors' Intelligence Statistics?

Once you've determined your real competitors, you're ready to start accumulating even more detailed competitor intelligence statistics.

This includes acquiring competitor intelligence statistics on:

How each competitor prices competing products or services,

The quality of each competitors product or service,

What kind of customer service each competitor provides,

The product range carried by each competitor,

The distribution outlets that each competitor uses,

The percent of the market that each competitor holds,

The amount of profit attributed to each competitor,

And any other statistics specific to guide your business decisions.

Now include the statistics for each competitor in a table and assign a ranking to each using:

a one to represent a weakness for a competitor, or

a ten for a strength.

Using this approach to competitor intelligence statistics, you will make more informed business decisions and make your products and services more competitive. So waste no time in gathering your own competitor intelligence statistics.

About the Author

You can read Competitor Intelligence Statistics Examples from my business. Discover more about Marketing Your Small Business.

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