tightlines profile picture
tightlines profile picture

tightlines

Account Executive

Politicker
Opinionated
Executive
+6

Competitor Crash Course (advice wanted)

Howdy y'all, seeking some advice on the most efficient way to understand your competition in a new industry. I'm all about efficiency, but also understand the need to put in the work to learn about topics. 

I've recently moved industries (thanks non-compete), and am curious what tools have helped y'all most? Is it battlecards, attending webinars, signing up for free trials of their tools, YouTube? LMK!

much love
-tighlines
🧠 Advice
🏅 Competition
🗝 Sales Enablement
5

15 comments

Sort by:
CuriousFox
WR Officer
4
🦊
You can't understand your competition until you understand your company and product first.
TennisandSales
Politicker
2
Head Of Sales
oh shoot. this is so legit.

the better you understand your own product the easier it will be to understand the competitors.
tightlines
Politicker
1
Account Executive
Yes agreed, but let’s assume that this has been the focus beforehand!
TennisandSales
Politicker
2
Head Of Sales
then i would do this, in this order:

1. go to their website. learn as much as you can there, see if you can download any reports or white papers or what ever. you are looking for the key messages they are trying to send. (do they hit on saving money, creating efficiency, generating revenue ect)

2. then I go to youtube and see what content is there.

3. then i would google "x company - reviews" see what comes up. I would be looking for people that are talking about specific areas they find to be annoying or not working well. I would use that in my messaging going forward (if your product does a better job)

4. then I would see if you can sign up for webinars. this may be hard depending on the format because they may block you if you use your work email and may not accept a personal email address. but give it a shot.
antiASKHOLE
Tycoon
3
Bravado's Resident Asshole
I just get really good at knowing what I sell and then learn along the way about my "competition"
jefe
Arsonist
1
🍁
.
saddonkey1
Executive
1
AE
Battle cards and having a talk track of differentiators has helped me. My last company even had someone on the product team who was a “mystery shopper” and would request demos from the competitors. Got lots of solid ammo!
tightlines
Politicker
1
Account Executive
I like that idea!
hh456
Celebrated Contributor
0
sales
what industry did you move into?
tightlines
Politicker
0
Account Executive
EdTech
hh456
Celebrated Contributor
0
sales
Okay, who are you selling to? School districts? Consumers?
tightlines
Politicker
0
Account Executive
Corporations and governments!
hh456
Celebrated Contributor
1
sales
Corporations - plenty of info here to sell into and how to learn your product, maybe start with dead accounts and get hundreds of calls in to work on your pitch and cadence. memorize the material so it sounds second nature.

governments - learn who pulls the levers as much as what youre selling. governments have a million decision makers and you need to know the unions, approved vendor list, rfi process, etc.

good luck!
tightlines
Politicker
0
Account Executive
Much appreciated!!
UserNotFound
Politicker
0
Account Executive
My favorite move is to ask current customers who switched to you why they made the move. The competitive landscape is about perception and how users see their experience. Most will be happy to “help educate” you.

Related posts

16
Members only

Interviewing at competitor -- need advice

Question
☁️
👥
🚀
47
22
Members only

Leaving for a competitor? Need some advice

Question
☁️
👥
🧠
25
15
Members only

What advice would you give a door-to-door fundraising teenager?

Question
💆‍♂
🐱
🥎
27
Bravado is a community of trusted sales professionals endorsed by their customers.
Apple Store logo
Products
The War Room Jobs Salary Guide Tech Sales U
Company
About Us How It Works Blog Bug Bounty
Contact
Press Careers
© 2024 Bravado Inc. All rights reserved.
Privacy Policy Legal and Privacy Center Sales Jobs
If you are hired as a contract sales rep by a Bravado customer, we may ask you to prove access to the employee email account provided to you by that customer. This data will be shared with customers to track your sales productivity; customers can use this data to confirm you meet the minimum activity requirements to pay out your ramp stipend and commission.