Competitive Intelligence from Clients – What Should I Ask?

If you want to win more business, you have to take it from the competition. I know that’s obvious, but generating competitive intelligence that actually helps you compete more effectively is a surprising low priority of too many companies.

But, if your CI program is based on increasing market share, competing more effectively and leading your industry, you are going to have to find the most effective areas of CI. Last week, I posted my thoughts on generating CI from your Voice of the Customer programs.

Today, I’ll provide some ideas of different types of questions that might be asked in each stage of the prospect/client relationship. The following table provides a summary of question topics that might fit your situation.

If you don’t already perform all of these VOC programs, don’t worry. You can move many of the questions around to fit into your existing programs. Or, you might want to craft a new intelligence initiative to answer a group of questions.

And, be careful to make sure that you can ask these types of questions to all of your clients and prospects. Some industries are more sensitive than others.

Either way, you will harvest information that should provide you with competitive advantages in the near future.

This is the kind of work that we do at Primary Intelligence every day. It is our goal to make our Competitive Intelligence clients look like the hero.

And, if you need some help trying to figure out what works for you, let me know (cdalley@primary-intel.com, 801-838-9600 x5050)