EMMF - Sean campbell Competitive Intelligence presentation

www.cascadeinsights.comsean@cascadeinsights.comscott@cascadeinsights.com

―The ability to learn faster thanyour competitors may be the only sustainable competitive advantage.‖ Arie de Geus

Qualitative (IDI’s, etc.) Hands OnOSINT Tech Exp. Actionable Insights

Comparing MR vs. CI MR (left) vs. CI (right) Determine Questions Focus on current company and it’s products / solutions Focused on the Competition Methods Quant / Qual / MROC’s, etc Secondary Sources and Human Intel Perform Research Recruit and Conduct Identify Sources / Triangulate Analyze Outputs What does it mean? What does it mean? Present Analysis Package, Deliver, Present Package, Deliver, Present4

―In Market Research you’re trying togeneralize across a population, in competitiveintelligence youre trying to get an answer‖-Rob Wiltbank – Willamette University MBAProfessor

Applying CIPlanning, Marketing, Sales

―The Internet is the worlds largest library. Its just that all the books are on the floor.‖ John Allen Paulos

Quarkbase• Jive Software4/26/2011 8

Silobreaker4/26/2011 9

Searching for Companies vs. People4/26/2011 10

Backgrounding CompaniesLinkedIn• LinkedIn - Company Profiles • New Hires • Recent Promotions and Changes • Popular Profiles • Jobs Posted on LinkedIn • Median Age of Employees • Top Office Locations • Year Founded4/26/2011 11

Citrix Systems4,600 Employees4/26/2011 12

Twitter• Twitter • There’s 10 million tweets about the iPad (so far…) • Is that Quant or Qual? • I don’t know but if you compete with Apple, it’s real data• And there’s a hashtag for everything • Topics, competitor conferences, products, etc.4/26/2011 14

Additional Sites• Twit(url)y• TweetFeel• Paper.li• WorldOfTweets4/26/2011 15

SlideShare.net4/26/2011 16

HR and Job Postings• HR can be a leaky bucket• See future department growth (i.e. new VP, new Director role, etc.)• All of the following came from one story on ArsTechnica about Windows “8” • http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2009/10/microsoft-mulling-128-bit-versions- of-windows-8-windows-9.ars4/26/2011 17

Glassdoor4/26/2011 18

Job Posting - Indicators• Directional • Growth of new divisions • Growth of new offerings • Growth of new partnerships• Org Chart Development • VP Role, followed by Director, followed by PM• Turnover Rates• Technology Investment Areas• Three reasons to hire: • Need to replace someone, need to staff up a division, need to create a new division4/26/2011 19

Mining the Deeper Web20

Changing Positioning, Services, OffersOver Time * From the WayBackMachine—Archive.org4/26/2011 21

Wordle.netRed Hat4/26/2011 22

TagxedoWordcloud Shapes (analysis of our web site)4/26/2011 23

Form 990 Data• Non Profits – Guidestar.org4/26/2011 24

Financials• Yahoo, MSN, Google Finance• Seekingalpha.com – Earnings call transcripts• Investor message boards (boardcentral.com)4/26/2011 25

Communities• Ning • GovLoop, etc.• Board Tracker• Yahoo and Google groups• SourceCon• IRE• Facebook• Many, many more4/26/2011 26

Quora4/26/2011 27

Google Search―Accelerants‖ 28

Google Tips roadmap site:acme.com• Any mention of “roadmap” on Acme.com’s web site4/26/2011 29

Google Tips Plan filetype:pdf site:acme.com• Any PDF files on Acme.com that contain “Plan”4/26/2011 30

Google Tips Iphone inurl:review• Find pages containing “iPhone” where the page URL contains “review” • I.E. Find iPhone reviews on sites that do lots of product reviews • reviews.cnet.com4/26/2011 31

Beyond:4/26/2011 32

Google Insights4/26/2011 33

Ad Buys• SpyFu, SEMRush4/26/2011 34

iSpionage4/26/2011 35

Site Intelligence• Compete.com, Quantcast.com4/26/2011 36

Going Local• Business Journals• International as well• Local news4/26/2011 37

Human Intelligence38

• <the candidates graphic> The Right Recruits4/26/2011 39

Why LinkedIn?

ElicitationThe Candidates • The Happy Customer • Willing to talk at length • Willing to extol the virtues of your product • May be a “bit” blind to the demerits your product carries with it.4/26/2011 41

ElicitationThe Candidates • The “Not So” Happy Customer • No so willing to talk at length • Top of mind answers as to why they don’t like your product/solution. • May not be aware of mitigating product benefits.4/26/2011 42

ElicitationThe Candidates • The “Crowd” • Willing to talk, just maybe not about what you’re interested in. • You’ll need to travel to see them as much as they’ll travel to see you. • Easy way to find the “agnostics” you need to reach. • Ex: Trade Show Intelligence4/26/2011 43

ElicitationInternal Resources• The “Field” • Establishing relationships with your field can be one of the most beneficial “networking” activities you can engage in. • Some elicitation candidates: • Sales Engineers • Account Managers • Targeted Industry “Sellers” • Engagement Managers • Engaging with the field let’s you leave the “ivory tower” of marketing.4/26/2011 44

ElicitationOthers: • The “other team” • Partners • Resellers • Customer Service • Trade Show Staff4/26/2011 45

Recruiting in a (socially) networked world“Every Person is his or • Personal Brandingher own brand.” – Reid meets IDI RecruitmentHoffman – LinkedIn • Job Descriptions, Recommendations, Awards, Presentations, Blog Posts, and Status Updates • Getting just the right candidate – techniques

LinkedIn Profiles

LinkedIn Profiles4/26/2011 48

LinkedIn Groups• LinkedIn Groups exist for almost any topic• Way to see current issues, trends for an audience, a group of technology enthusiasts, etc.• Can join a maximum of 50 groups total• Just a few of the groups I belong to: • Oregon Marketers Group, Executive Suite, The Futurist Group, Sales/Marketing VP’s, Cloud Computing, Linux Expert, PHP Developers, Windows 7, Malware Security Researchers, SAP Job Network, OpenOffice User, QRCA, MRA, Australian IT Industry, etc.4/26/2011 49

Why Me? Why Now?

When Bad GrammER is Good…• Shouldn’t sound like something written by committee • Or something written by your client…• Should be: • Authentic • Looks like something you banged out in a minute (but it really took an hour) • Conversational • Personal • Written in the “voice” of the target (uses their lingo) • Authentic does not mean a sloppy form letter • And most importantly it should always include in the first two to three sentences….

Do yourhomework….

Elicitation – In the FieldBefore the Call – Research, Research, Research• The “Quick” Scan • Step #1 – LinkedIn, Xing, Facebook - Profiles • Step #2 – Their company’s web site. • Step #3 – Internet Wayback Machine (i.e. archive.org) • Step #4 – Any public quotes the interview has given in the past or any interviews that they have participated in. • Step #5 – Twitter or Blog Feeds4/26/2011 53

Elicitation – In the FieldDoing the call• Much like a sales call • Establish rapport • Answer unspoken “Why are you calling” an more importantly “What’s in this for me?” • Have the conversation – listen for the shields to drop • Create a psychological “end” to the conversation: • That’s everything I needed to cover, but one other thing I wondered about… • Finish the call4/26/2011 54

It’s important to have a conversation that provides value to the interviewee while obtaining the information you need.55

The issue of… ETHICS

EthicsSCIP Code of Ethics• To continually strive to increase the recognition and respect of the profession.• To comply with all applicable laws, domestic, and international.• To accurately disclose all relevant information, including one’s identity and organization, prior to all interviews.• To fully respect all requests for confidentiality of information.• To avoid conflicts of interest in fulfilling one’s duties.• To provide honest and realistic recommendations and conclusions in the execution of one’s duties.• To promote the code of ethics within one’s company, with third- party contractors and within the entire profession.• To faithfully adhere to and abide by one’s company policies, objectives, and guidelines.4/26/2011 57

EthicsQuestions to ask• Legal Guidelines • Do you understand the legal implications of the research you are about to undertake? • Do you have legal counsel to turn to in case a questions comes up?• Personal Ethics • What “code of ethics” are you following as you elicit information?• Company Guidelines • What guidelines does your company already have in place on the subject of qualitative research and/or elicitation? • Do these guidelines differ if you are researching information about a competitor or your own company?4/26/2011 58

―Real Life‖rarelyprovidesclues thisobvious… 59

Examples of CI projects Competitor Planning Roadmap Competitive Landscape Tradeshow Intelligence Competitor Assessment ProfilingAudience Marketing Newsletter Win/Loss Competitor Customer Harvesting Sales Battlecard Short Long Level of effort Shelf Life60

CI Project Timeline Win/Loss Customer List Battlecard Roadmap Analysis Landscape Assessment Competitor Profiling Newsletter Product / Service Development Timeline Ideation Planning Development Launch Sustain61

Competitive Landscape Assessment • Value: Identify competitors in a market and map out their market position and differentiation • Provides critical information when entering a new market • Audience: Planning, Marketing • Sources: OSINT and industry experts • Can include • Overview of the market or industry conditions • Visualizations of competitors in quadrants, maps, or other visualizations • “Baseball cards” for each competitor • Recommendations of competitors and trends to continue monitoring Qualitative (IDI’s, etc.) Hands On OSINT Tech Exp. Actionable Insights62

Competitor Roadmap Analysis • Value: Determines future product or services features • Provides information so organization can decide to differentiate or compete head-to-head • Audience: Planning, marketing • Sources: OSINT, partners, customers, industry experts • Avoid: Former employees, information under NDA • Can include • Future product features, services, pricing • Recommendations for differentiation and head-to-head opportunities Qualitative (IDI’s, etc.) Hands On OSINT Tech Exp. Actionable Insights63

Competitive Newsletters • Value: Provides current information on a regular basis • Tactical and “how to react” information • Forward looking analysis and prediction • Greatly increases your exposure in the organizations • Audience: Planning, marketing, and sales • But not in the same newsletter – optimize for one of those audiences • Format: Web Portal Delivery, Email Delivery, Wiki style • Sources: Mainly OSINT • Can vary in objectivity • Arm and motivate sales to compete – focus on competitor weaknesses and missteps, or • Enhance strategy and decision making – objective, credible, and honest Qualitative (IDI’s, etc.) Hands On OSINT Tech Exp. Actionable Insights64

Competitive Newsletter • Can include: • Summary and analysis • Talking points and positioning • News headlines organized by topic • Corporate level news • Earnings and health • M&A activity • PR and perception • Senior leadership statements • Strategic direction • Product or service level news • Broken down by product, service, or other logical division • Product launches • Reviews • Analyst commentary • Wins and case studies • Awards • Sentiment • Roadmap and supply channel news • Promotions and initiatives • Pricing changes • Avoid: • Recommendations that make work for other parts of the organization65

Battlecard • Value: Increases ability of sales teams to compete and win in head-to-head scenarios • Audience: Sales and possibly partners • Format: 2 page Word or PDF • Sources: OSINT and limited primary intelligence from competitor customers, partners, and sales • Can include: • Competitor overview • Growth, financials, product line, threats they present Qualitative (IDI’s, etc.) • Product / service analysis Hands On OSINT • Overview of features, capabilities, Tech Exp. • Highlights weaknesses compared to your products • Complaints, pain points, and feature requests for competitor product Actionable Insights • Sales strategy analysis • How does the competitor sell? • How do they position against your company? • Are they discounting or bundling? • What products are their main sellers, and what other products do they attach? • Selling guidance • Selling and positioning against the competitor • Key issues to bring up • Framing the conversation • Q&A • Tough questions and answers66

Competitor Profiling • Value: Provides a foundation for strategy and decision making • Audience: Planning or marketing • Sources: OSINT and limited primary intelligence from competitor customers, partners, and sales • Can include: • Company overview • Founded, revenue, growth, business model, culture • Product / service analysis • Product line, product strategy, roadmap, evolution, deficiencies, complaints, praise, feature requests, FAQs, teardown analysis • Marketing analysis • Marketing pillars, positioning, claims, evolution of marketing, keyword analysis • Sales analysis • Sales tactic analysis, direct/indirect, customer perceptions, subscription/support annuity, how their sales describes your company, • Metrics • Web traffic, trends, keyword buys, search insights, comparisons to your company • Recommendations Qualitative (IDI’s, etc.) Hands On OSINT Tech Exp. Actionable Insights67

Win/Loss Analysis • Value: Provides accurate information about why sales are won and lost • Audience: Planning or sales • Format: PowerPoint • Sources: Mainly primary sources – your customers, competitor customers, and some partners or consultants • May include: • Typical buying criteria • Weighting of importance of various factors: • Price, features, promotions, demos, solution selling, etc. • Recommendations Qualitative (IDI’s, etc.) Hands On OSINT Tech Exp. Actionable Insights68

Competitor Customer List • Value: Provides a list of customers who have a demonstrated need for your solution • If you know you are effective at displacing a competitor, then knowing their customers can translate quickly into sales • Audience: Sales • Sources: OSINT • Avoid: Current and former employees • May include: • Customer name, contact information, how you know they’re a customer, etc. • Note: Customer lists are trade secret so it is critical that customers are determined through legal and ethical OSINT Qualitative (IDI’s, etc.) Hands On OSINT Tech Exp. Actionable Insights69

Tradeshow Intelligence • Value: Collect a large amount of intelligence in a short amount of time • Competitors, partners, and customers are all concentrated in the same location • Audience: Planning, marketing, or sales • Format: Word document bulletins and reports during the event, PowerPoint rollup after the event • Sources: Primary sources • May include: • Competitor announcements, strategy, roadmap, examination of key features, analysis of competitor sales pitch, etc. • Quick recommendations on time-sensitive opportunities and threats Qualitative (IDI’s, etc.) Hands On OSINT Tech Exp. Actionable Insights70

Human Capital - Investment Tracking• Value: Provide signals as to where a competitor is investing, where their product is being utilized, and features that may exist in new products• Audience: Sales, Marketing, Planning• Sources: Job Posting sites, Career Sites, Job Posting API’s Qualitative (IDI’s, etc.) Hands On OSINT Tech Exp. Actionable Insights 71

Deliverable construction • Conclusions and Predictions up front • Back them up – OSINT, Qual, Product / Service Experience • Build a narrative • More than just a collection of facts • What does it mean? • How does this intersect with our business? • What are the threats and opportunities? • Presentation style deliverables are typically standard, but they are not the right tool for every deliverable • Newsletters are typically developed in Word or an HTML template • More quantitative findings are delivered (or backed by) Excel spreadsheets • Must answer Key Intelligence Questions (KIQ’s) • Can provide additional insights outside of KIQs72

Synthesize • Why does it mean • Why does it matter • How can it be visualized73

Contact Us Register for our newsletter for more tips… www.cascadeinsights.com/newsletter sean@cascadeinsights.com scott@cascadeinsights.com4/26/2011 74

EMMF - Sean campbell Competitive Intelligence presentation

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EMMF - Sean campbell Competitive Intelligence presentation — Presentation Transcript