ack/nak: quick exercise
An amazing post over at ack/nak. Go read — especially if you are in the throes of competitive analysis, or are even looking for a solid place to start.
Or even help build some fun relationships with Sales folks. Good times will be had by all.
Bob, does the “tasty beverage” portion of the exercise include beers and/or mixed cocktails?
April 19th, 2007 at 9:16 am
I’ll admit to having an adult beverage after I analyzed the results. . .whether I needed one or not is not something I’ll admit to.
I’ll ask you the same question I asked at the end of the post - what do you think you could make of this data? I’m curious if we come to the same conclusions.
April 20th, 2007 at 9:29 pm
I apologize that I did in fact miss the question at the end of your post. I got too wrapped up thinking about adult beverages.
Having Sales provide input into the competitors they are coming up against in deals is helpful, to be sure. In addition, having a weighting scale like that also helps.
What would I use the data for? First, I’d want to be certain I was capturing that data at the outset of a competitive analysis cycle. It should help prioritize who it is I look at and evaluate.
Obviously, the other point lies in listening to the people that are trying out sell your product around others with their own offering. That alone is crucial, since PMs are typically involved in every single sales cycle.
One grain of salt: will any rep dig deep during he exercise to really think about what each competitors means in the overall life of the company? More than likely, no.
What you may in fact end-up with is a set of data that’s skewed to competitors a rep hasn’t so much thought through as a threat, but those that they are dealing with in their existing set of deals.
That might not be a bad thing, but rest assured, it’s something to keep in mind when using the gathered data to make decisions.