Competitive Intelligence Archives - Page 3 of 4

Five Potential Mistakes in your Competitive Intelligence Study

February 16, 2018March 22, 2024David Lithwick

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 competitor to launch within the next 4 months. The 10th (a rep) says it will be delayed for a year. You assume the majority are correct and initiate a counter plan (e.g. hiring more reps, updating sales messaging). However, that one rep is correct. Your increased spending is for naught. Pursuing CI as A Market… Read More

Use Competitive Intelligence Skills to Eliminate Over-Billing by your Vendor

January 24, 2018March 22, 2024David Lithwick

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: No mention of make goods for errors No details as to who would be managing your business (e.g. partner, director, account manager) Invoice Examples: Terms are hard to understand (small font, financial jargon, lengthy) Copies of bids by subcontractors are not attached Spending is based on estimate vs job Fees are rounded up Push Comes… Read More

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Most Frequent Competitive Intelligence Oversight

July 6, 2017March 22, 2024David Lithwick

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 little effort to prevent sensitive information from being leaked to competitors. WHY? As much as preventing leakage is a concern among organizations, it’s not consistently enforced. Let’s be honest do suppliers read every word of a NDA they sign, let alone follow the terms to the letter? WHAT ARE FREQUENT sources of leakage? … Read More

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Integrating Competitive Intelligence and Qualitative Research

June 26, 2017March 22, 2024David Lithwick

“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

Top 5 Mistakes in Pharma Competitive Intelligence

June 20, 2017March 22, 2024David Lithwick

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 that your competitor will not be adding a new indication within the next 6 months. Consequently, you assume that there is only a 20% chance that the competitor will do so, and allocate budget funding to other initiatives. Consequence: Your colleague uses this estimate for planning their marketing budget. Yet it turns out that the… Read More

How to Obtain CI when Conducting a Medical Interview

May 29, 2017March 22, 2024David Lithwick

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 and nurses are more detailed and precise than those of the client’s competitor! With this in mind, let’s look at 2 examples of using medical interviews to obtain helpful competitor research. Example #1 – Facing a New Competitor Entry You are the Canadian Diabetes Marketing Manager for “Fiasp”. You are faced with a new competitor… Read More

Ten Sources to Tap Without Contacting your Competitor

May 22, 2017March 22, 2024David Lithwick

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 could then counter by providing misinformation or fast-tracking their own initiatives and marketing efforts to gain the advantage. There is also the issue of potentially over-stepping ethical boundaries. A workable resolution is to tap primary sources of competitor information without contacting your competitor. And…to do so in an ethical manner. Where to go from here?… Read More

Understanding the Impact of “Customer Churn”

May 10, 2017March 22, 2024David Lithwick

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 converting new customers to long term customers is losing them – customer churn. Customer Churn Definition The measurement commonly used to assess losing customers is called “churn”. The ratio is determined by dividing the number of new customers who leave your business by the number of new customers you have acquired during the same period.… Read More

Blending Competitive Intelligence with Market Research

March 6, 2017March 22, 2024David Lithwick

Introduction If you are a researcher, you might consider, as a tactic, blending competitive intelligence with market research in adding value to your employer’s or client’s success. I define Competitive intelligence by focusing on the words themselves: “Competitive:” investigating competitor activities, and “Intelligence:” using your expertise and intellect to analyze that data & information collected to create intelligence for making meaningful decisions. The process of gathering, analyzing and interpreting information about a market, product or service to be offered for sale in that market, and about the past, present and potential customers for the product or service is commonly referred to as market research. Understanding the commonalities… Read More

Customer Segmentation Analysis

February 17, 2017March 22, 2024David Lithwick

In several workshops I was asked to share some tips on how to conduct Customer Segmentation Analysis. So let me share my thoughts in 350 words or less! A single product or service will seldom meet the needs of all your customers. Customer segmentation helps to divide your customers into groups of similar individuals using specific criteria, such as age, gender, interests, spending habits, occupation, etc. This focuses your marketing efforts by identifying those segments that share common needs and will yield positive returns. TIP 1 Look at your current market to see what segments have yet been defined. (For example, a simple product like gum has multiple flavours, packages,… Read More