Octopus Competitive Intelligence

  How Competitor Intelligence increased sales for a Facilities Management company Week by week, you will read the true stories created from our Competitive Intelligence work. You’ll meet the clients and people using our insight to create more business and better business. What did they know, what did they want to know, what did they learn, and when would you do in a similar situation? This case study is called How Competitor Intelligence increased sales for a Facilities Management company. And it explains how easy it is to take your clients for granted. You know how you have been in the industry for decades You know how you  have been in the industry for decades and decades. You are so established within your market that your business development teams are more about receiving tender requests, networking at the right lunches to enable more tenders. Pretty soon, you are entirely dependant on winning the next set of tenders. Relationships out of the window and lots of writing te...

  Competitive Intelligence and lessons from the military gets things done We explain how Competitive Intelligence and lessons from the military gets things done. You can learn from the military to make sure you put everything in your packs and belt in the same place. The same place as everyone else.  So, when you reach for a new ammo magazine, you are not picking out a hairspray can. Or, if there is an injured soldier, you know where their first aid kit is. So, you use their first aid kit, not yours, as you may need yours later.  Motivation to get it right During basic training, soldiers are encouraged and motivated by regular team assessments. So, for example, the sergeant will walk around and chat with his team. And just check that their kit is up to standard and packed away in the right place. If not, over coffee, they are told to think about why their kit location needs to be in the same place as their co-worker.  Not really. The field inspection entails a kit in...

  How to Compete with my Competitors Using Competitive Intelligence Thinking In this article, we offer our thoughts on how to compete with my competitors using Competitive Intelligence thinking. Knowing who your competitors are is vitally important. And knowing how to compete and beat them is critical. Why? Because given a chance, they would take all the decent business you have and leave you and your team in the gutter.  Do you really know who you are competing with? You may think you know who your competitors are, but a more detailed research exercise may reveal who they really are. Do you know how many competitors are looking at your target customers? How are they approaching them, delivering their offering, and what are they selling? Devise great questions. Answering them will assist you in building your competitive strategy. And, in turn, eventually, strengthen your business. Who are your competitors?  So, working out who your competitors are. Who are the leadin...

This week we offer you the Competitive Intelligence Thoughts of Lone Star’s Director of Competitive Intelligence, Laurie Young. Lone Star are based in Dallas, United States and more can be found about them   here. 1. In your view, what’s Competitive Intelligence? Legal and ethical collection of data and information that is analysed to provide insights. This analysis enables decision-makers to make business decisions through anticipating competitive behaviour and better understanding the competitive marketplace 2. In your view, what’s the true benefit of CI? Provides insight and actionable intelligence Provides alerts and warnings of developments that will directly impact business Helps decision-makers understand the environment, competitors, customer needs and wants Assists in the development of strategy 3. How would you advise a company with no experience in Competitive Intelligence to get started?  Identify a CI champion Set priorities – what do you need/want from CI Either ...

This post asks how to do SWOT Analysis with Competitive Intelligence questions. SWOT analysis is the most popular, well known and obvious strategic intelligence tool to identify Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats associated with your business, division, office and project.  SWOT analysis offers powerful insight into your Competitive and Market landscape. We hope this article will asset you in developing a better list of actions to minimise Weakness and Threats and make the most of your Strengths and Opportunities.  We have found that the structure of SWOT analysis is relatively easy to understand. List your Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. You don’t need an MBA from Harvard to understand this. It’s simple. And that’s one of the advantages of SWOT analysis. However, the simplicity of the tool does not mean it is straightforward to do it properly. Like everything to do with Competitive Analysis, Competitors Research and Competitive Intelligence, a...

  How to find out about your market with competitive analysis This post is called how to find out about your market with competitive analysis. Every business school course tells you that knowing your market is crucial. Marketing Directors will say to you it’s everything. Learning this and telling your teams is one thing. But doing something about it is the critical bit.  The awareness of Competitive Intelligence is much improved. Many are seeing the benefits of finding out about their competitors and their market. Many are not, but that’s another story for another day. What is your market? The market is a term used a lot in business. But what is a market? Your market is your customers, prospects, suppliers, regulators and your competitors. And many more. Competitors are just one aspect of your market. Your customers and suppliers are also the most critical element of your market. Why? because they’re the ones that could influence your success or cause your failure. Customers a...

This post asks how to find out things about my competitors. Every start-up and established business faces competition. Understanding who the competitors are in your game and what they do will assist you in staying ahead of them. Use Competitor Analysis when looking at how to find out things about your competitor. What is competitor analysis? Competitor analysis identifies, analyses, understands and learns from your rivals. It is a great way to answer the question. How to find out things about my competitors? It has to be an essential aspect of your marketing strategy. If it’s not, then you are wasting your time doing a marketing strategy. It will allow you to establish what makes your offering unique in your marketplace. And what will make you attractive in your target market? If you are pre-startup, you have to do Competitor Analysis before you start your business. To determine what you are going to do and assess if it’s a good idea in the first place. It’s an ever-evolving document. ...