Librarians are boring. And, of limited value

This morning, I read an article summary which provides information on establishing a library of Competitive Intelligence.





While it is important to gather information, too many companies settle for too much information and too few results.

Pretty soon, you have a big, dark library of information and a librarian that serves as caretaker rather than consultant or expert.



While a “library” of information needs to be collected to power a CI program, let’s not get lost on the fact that piles of information don’t necessarily mean that you have the power to win more business.

In other words, if an exec approaches the library with the question, “What information in these stacks will improve our win rate by 10% this fiscal year,” how does the librarian answer that question?

And, if there is no answer, what is the value of the library?

For my ideas on how to avoid the “useless librarian syndrome,” check out this webinar and find out how to create ROI with your CI.

Be the Consultant, Not the Waitress

Last night, my family went to dinner to celebrate the birthday of my oldest son. As a family with five children (and two grandmas present), we kept our waitress very busy with requests for drinks, napkins, condiments and the like.

Fortunately for us, our waitress was very patient and kept a smile on her face the whole time, even though she was under some pressure to serve a number of tables in our area. For her efforts, we added some extra to her tip to show our appreciation. Since the restaurant pays very little, the service help usually works very hard to impress the clientele in hopes of increasing their take-home pay.

In my experience, many CI managers work much like our waitress. Hopefully, you are not in the majority here. Too many people expect the CI group to be a passive, order-taking bunch. It is disappointing to see the number of CI requests that come through our company for data that has a miniscule chance of making a difference.

You can’t always say, “No” to CI requests. But, you should have a broader view of the landscape. Start by listening. But, make sure that you understand the actual business problems before anything else. Find out why the requested information is necessary. Relate the business problem to revenue generation, market share or operational efficiencies. (If you can’t, push back.) If there is no plan, what is the likelihood that the information you collect will be used?

Be a guiding force in the types of information that are collected. And, be proactive. Create CI programs that will regularly feed high quality information into different departments.

You aren’t working for tips. Be a strategic thinker, improve the bottom line and make a difference.

Share your ideas with me. Call me at 801.838.9600 x5050.

Clients Will Build Your Market Share

Recently, I was working with my son, trying to teach him to help him start his own candy business. He wanted to know how to make a certain sucker that he buys from the store. He was a little frustrated that he couldn’t find their recipe online and he certainly wasn’t going to get the formula from that company.

In the end, I told him, it just doesn’t matter. It would be cool to know how to make the competitor’s sucker. But, it would be even better to create your own and make it better.

How do you find out what people will like better? Ask them. The consumer (or client) knows what they want to buy and they will tell you without much trouble. In my son’s case, following the leader might not be as productive as blazing a trail, based on market needs.

Yesterday, I described an RFP we received at Primary Intelligence that requested mountains of competitive intelligence. In a nutshell, our client wanted to know the inner workings of a specific competitor’s sales, marketing, operations and financial divisions.

Some of the more interesting requests were:

*What is the typical, daily experience of a LaborFree sales associate (number of prospect/client contacts; “roll-calling” requirements; prospecting vs. account maintenance/growth; interaction with accountants and existing clients to acquire referrals; support from other LaborFree’s organizations and management, etc.)?
*How does LaborFree calculate its customer retention rate (by client, or by revenues)? What has that rate been over the last five years?
*Does LaborFree use its LaborFree Agency commission revenue to support discounting to customers who use the pay-as-you-go insurance products? If so, to what extent?
*As compared to SOFTTIME, does LaborFree match us expense-for-expense, or are there whole categories of expense not present in the LaborFree business model?*Where LaborFree and SOFTTIME expenses are similarly defined, where are their expenses materially less or more (proportionately) than SOFTTIME’s expenses?

This laundry list was five pages long and most of the requests could only be fulfilled by tunneling in to the competitor and stealing all of the trade secrets.

The most amusing part of the deal was their requirement that the vendor had to demonstrate how each data request would be fulfilled in an "ethical manner."

And, when we asked SOFTTIME’s CI group to explain how they were going to turn this information into revenue, they had no clue; just a hope that someone above them knew what would come next.

At this point, the CI group at SOFTTIME needed to step up. They should have asked why all of this information was critical. They should have made stakeholders explain what they would do with the information. They should have explained the risks in obtaining this kind of data. (“How would a competitor find this information out about us? They couldn’t? Well, how do you expect us to ethically get this information on them?”)

If the goal is to win business, increase market share, serve clients and keep them in the fold, these information requests have very little to do with those objectives. In short, collect the data that will bring more clients to your company and keep more from defecting. Knowing your competitor’s sales commission plan probably won’t get you there.

This approach is working for my son. It will work for you. Make the Voice of the Customer an integral part of your CI plan.

Let's chat about these ideas. Call me at 801.838.9600 x5050 or leave me a comment below.

What, How and Why

As a third-party competitive intelligence provider, Primary Intelligence receives numerous project specs and requests for bids, advice or consulting. By the time we hear about the project, our clients already know WHAT needs to be discovered and they want us to tell them HOW we will collect their data.

Logical. They want our expertise (or that of any third-party vendor) to make their efforts more effective. And Primary Intelligence exists to show companies how to grow market share, increase revenues and keep clients in the fold.

But, too often, nobody has considered WHY the information should be gathered.

For instance, one of our clients approached us with a formal RFP. From the content, it was obvious that there were concerns about sales effectiveness against a specific competitor. At the risk of:

*How is LaborFree’s sales organization structured (numbers; roles; management structure; span of control; by product)? Is there a sales organization chart that presents this structure? In a more general sense, is there a detailed, company wide org. chart? If so, please provide.
*To whom does sales report, both regionally, and at the corporate level?
*How are the sales offices geographically dispersed?
*What is the role, and extent of, inside sales?
*What is the typical, daily experience of a LaborFree sales associate (number of prospect/client contacts; “roll-calling” requirements; prospecting vs. account maintenance/growth; interaction with accountants and existing clients to acquire referrals; support from other LaborFree’s organizations and management, etc.)?
*How extensively do LaborFree sales associate make use of product demos in the sales process? Describe the typical sales call.
*Describe LaborFree’s discounting practices, at the time of initial sale.
*Does LaborFree raise its price over time to these customers who received initial discounts? Do these customers experience greater price increases than those who did not receive initial discounts?
*Are these price increases a major cause of customer losses?
*How does LaborFree calculate its customer retention rate (by client, or by revenues)? What has that rate been over the last five years?
*Does LaborFree use its LaborFree Agency commission revenue to support discounting to customers who use the pay-as-you-go insurance products? If so, to what extent?
*Number of orders submitted / % errors
*Number of payrolls setup / % perfect
*Number of first payrolls processed /% perfect
*Number of hot-start orders submitted / % actual starts
*Average cycle times
*How does LaborFree categorize its expenses? Provide specifics.
*As compared to SOFTTIME-ES, are similarly-labeled expenses actually alike, or are there definition differences? What are these differences?
*As compared to SOFTTIME-ES, does LaborFree match us expense-for-expense, or are there whole categories of expense not present in the LaborFree business model?
*Where LaborFree and SOFTTIME-ES expenses are similarly defined, where are their expenses materially less or more (proportionately) than SOFTTIME’s expenses?
*Per the above question, why are their expenses proportionately less or more than ours, for similar activities?

After five pages of this information, it was apparent that the CI group of this company looked like a Saturday evening DJ; taking requests and serving up the tunes. But the group wasn't doing their job of pushing back on the stakeholders and asking WHY.

Tomorrow, I'll examine a different course of action that eventually made a big difference in SOFTIME'S financial performance.

And, if you want to talk in the meantime, give me (Chris) a call at 801.838.9600 x5050.

Webinar - Competitive Intelligence with ROI

Last week, Primary Intelligence hosted a one-hour webinar demonstrating the benefits of approaching competitive intelligence with the goal of demonstrating predictable ROI. By far, it was our most successful online seminar session and the feedback indicates a strong need for better processes and criteria to shape business intelligence efforts.

(The presentation is available here)

While the presentation was well received, the Q&A session was a confirmation of the fact that business leaders and intelligence providers want more consistent processes and better criteria. CI Professionals want a plan that will make a difference.

Too often, the CI generated in a company is reactionary. Someone suddenly wants to know "Why we lost that account" or "When [competitor] moved into our space on the east cost."

While these are real business problems, the questions are reactionary, at best. CI efforts will bog down and die if they only answer these types of questions. And if management can't see that your efforts are making a difference, you'll probably be working for another company soon.

Day-to-day CI has to be guided by a strategic vision. Execution must be timely and people have to be nimble enough to change direction as the landscape shifts. But, there has to be a vision.

Who sets that vision? Give that idea some thought.

If you would like to talk more about the idea of CI with ROI, call me at 801-838-9600 x5050 or cdalley@primary-intel.com. Let's chat.