Insights, Tips and Lessons to Put You Ahead
Five Potential Mistakes in your Competitive Intelligence Study
Assigning a Numerical Probability Example: You calculate there is only a 20% chance of a leading overseas competitor entering your market, and then base your marketing plan on this estimate. Your assumption turns out wrong. There is little budget left to offset this threat. Giving into Group Think Example: 9/10 respondents you speak to expect your […]
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Use Competitive Intelligence Skills to Eliminate Over-Billing by your Vendor
The same CI skills used to pinpoint a competitor threat can be applied to uncover over billing by your vendor. Meticulous investigation and forensic analysis, both required in CI, can help you red flag over billing by a vendor. Start with a copy of their terms of agreement and an invoice: TERMS OF AGREEMENT Examples: […]
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Mystery Shopping: How to Avoid A Catastrophe
Is your Mystery Shopping program keeping you up at night? Do you need to stave off a Mystery Shop Catastrophe? We’re not talking about fixable mistakes or miscalculations but a real foul-up in your study that cannot be undone. To get that perfect amount of sleep and wake up refreshed, below are 10 mystery shopping […]
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Most Frequent Competitive Intelligence Oversight
WHAT DO YOU THINK IS THE MOST FREQUENT COMPETITIVE INTELLIGENCE OVERSIGHT? Is it: a) Tipping off competitors by placing too many calls? b) Failing to verify findings? c) Making little effort to prevent sensitive information from being leaked to competitors? d) Spending too much time chasing for information instead of analyzing the data? ANSWER c) Making […]
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Integrating Competitive Intelligence and Qualitative Research
“Integrating Competitive Intelligence and Qualitative Research: Fitting Together the Puzzle Pieces”…Check out my article in the Qualitative Research Consultants Association VIEWS Magazine (Summer 2017 edition)…Click below. Integrating Competitive Intelligence & Qualitative Research: Fitting Together the Puzzle Pieces
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Top 5 Mistakes in Pharma Competitive Intelligence
Introduction Based on the pharma CI studies I have worked on, I am sharing with you the most common mistakes in pharma CI and tips to avoid them. Top 5 (Drum Roll….) #5. Assigning a numerical probability to the likelihood of a competitor initiative taking place Example: 8 out 10 people you speak to advise […]
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How to Obtain CI when Conducting a Medical Interview
Introduction Health professionals, such as physicians and nurses, can be excellent resources for gathering competitive intelligence. The reason is simple. They are also your competitor’s customers, which mean they can share their experiences and knowledge about a competitor with you. In fact, in ¼ of the Pharma CI studies I work on, insights from physicians […]
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Ten Sources to Tap Without Contacting your Competitor
INTRODUCTION Typical Pharma Competitive Intelligence goals are to assess a competitor threat or to obtain reliable information on your competitor’s sales force size, regional allocation, CHE efforts and presentation tools. Depending upon your methodology, gathering Pharma Competitive Intelligence can place you at risk. For example, too many phone calls to your competitor will alert them. They […]
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Understanding the Impact of “Customer Churn”
Customer churn should be top of mind for all organizations. The importance of a strategically executed customer onboarding program was our last topic. Such a program cements new customer loyalty and commitment. A strong onboarding program also sets the stage for the new customer bringing you more of their business. However, the flip side of […]
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Customer Onboarding Best Practices
Introduction Adopting best practices for customer onboarding is a key factor in client retention and loyalty. Many businesses today are allocating resources to competitive intelligence, mystery shopping and market research. This is in an effort to gain a competitive advantage and increase both share of wallet and market share. However, in my experience, ensuring the […]
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