Why Haven’t I Been the Target of a Competitive Intelligence Program?

Last month, my wife, kids and I piled into the family suburban. We started from our home in Salt Lake City, pointed the car east and didn’t stop driving until we hit New York City. We’re a road trip family, but I don’t think we’ll need to see I-80 again for a while.

As we traveled, we frequented dozens of hotels, restaurants, tourist traps… I mean, attractions, gas stations and everything else that goes with a long road trip. You really shouldn’t travel 5,000+ miles without stopping to see a lot of places.

Anyway… at the consumer level, my observation overall was that the companies with whom I interacted had no program whatsoever to understand me as a client, let alone gather little bits of competitive intelligence. Maybe they are all making money hand over fist and they don’t see the need, but even with my feeble understanding of the synergy between sales, marketing and competitive intelligence at the consumer level, I saw opportunities for each of these vendors and service providers to pry a little more cash out of my wallet and away from competing establishments.

I’ll provide one quick example: We stayed at many different hotels/motels, often just off of the freeway. After a long day’s drive, we would attack the pack of motels, looking for the right amenities and the best bargain. When I approached the clerk in each motel, the conversation started with availability and quickly turned into a negotiation. If you were watching, you would have thought we were in a middle-eastern bazaar, haggling over the price of a gourd.

Never once did the clerk at the desk ask me where else I was considering. Never once, was I asked what was important to my family. Maybe the guest rooms had a comment card for me to fill out, but it was likely hidden behind some brochure.

To its credit, one of the hotel chains (of whom I am a loyalty program member) sent me a couple of emails after my stay asking about my satisfaction. They ought to ask me about my stay at a couple of the competitors’ establishments also. As a traveler, I’m looking for comfort and a decent price. I’ll tell them what the competition is doing if it will help me get a better stay for my family next time.

Maybe, my next gig will be a consultant to consumer-oriented companies. The dollars and margins may be smaller, but the volume can be huge. It would make my day to be influential in the change of an entire industry with a few simple measures.