How do you break down a large competitive landscape into tiers? How many competitors do you deem "tier 1" and how does the level of CI support differ for tier 1 competitors vs. tier 2 or 3?
Hi Ellie! We have about 5 direct competitors that we would categorize as tier 1, these are companies that come up the most frequently in deals and have the most similar product offerings to us. We are monitoring this group pretty much daily and create weekly reports that are sent to our internal teams, along with internal battlecards that we update regularly. The next tier includes a larger group of indirect competitors that may offer some overlapping products but have a different approach to the market and overall portfolio. We have created internal materials and do keep an eye on this group but not as frequent as our tier 1 and if they release a new product we will do some additional research and provide it to our teams. Our industry is large and very diverse with types of providers so sometimes we move competitors between the tiers depending on what they are doing in terms of go to market and product offerings. It's never a dull moment :)
It is largely the same at my organization. There are several large competitors, and a whole host of smaller companies. We treat the top two or three as 'tier 1' and most of the proactive research is focused there. When a smaller competitor has a new or interesting product launch or similar announcement, we pay attention, but it is much more reactive.
The tier 1 competitors don't always have the most competitive products, though. I think everybody within my company has aligned on their 'tier 1' status because they are the ones with the highest potential to impact revenue.
We have so many competitors we break them into multiple segments including:
- by region (since we are a global company, our competitor differ greatly in EMEA, APAC, US, etc.)
- by line of business
- platform or module?
We prioritize based off of who we compete against more frequently across regions and platforms. If we see competitor A with a global presence like us and they have a "platform" product too, they are considered a top competitor to watch closely.
If it is a competitor that we only see in one line of business and they are more modular in their products, that would be our version of tier 2.
Lastly, new entrants we are just starting to hear about and not too frequently are considered tier 3. We'll add them to Crayon, poke around and maybe perform a SWOT analysis (nothing in-depth like our battlecards) and leverage for one deal or sales opportunity.
Hi Ellie! We have about 5 direct competitors that we would categorize as tier 1, these are companies that come up the most frequently in deals and have the most similar product offerings to us. We are monitoring this group pretty much daily and create weekly reports that are sent to our internal teams, along with internal battlecards that we update regularly. The next tier includes a larger group of indirect competitors that may offer some overlapping products but have a different approach to the market and overall portfolio. We have created internal materials and do keep an eye on this group but not as frequent as our tier 1 and if they release a new product we will do some additional research and provide it to our teams. Our industry is large and very diverse with types of providers so sometimes we move competitors between the tiers depending on what they are doing in terms of go to market and product offerings. It's never a dull moment :)
It is largely the same at my organization. There are several large competitors, and a whole host of smaller companies. We treat the top two or three as 'tier 1' and most of the proactive research is focused there. When a smaller competitor has a new or interesting product launch or similar announcement, we pay attention, but it is much more reactive.
The tier 1 competitors don't always have the most competitive products, though. I think everybody within my company has aligned on their 'tier 1' status because they are the ones with the highest potential to impact revenue.
We have so many competitors we break them into multiple segments including:
- by region (since we are a global company, our competitor differ greatly in EMEA, APAC, US, etc.) - by line of business - platform or module? We prioritize based off of who we compete against more frequently across regions and platforms. If we see competitor A with a global presence like us and they have a "platform" product too, they are considered a top competitor to watch closely. If it is a competitor that we only see in one line of business and they are more modular in their products, that would be our version of tier 2. Lastly, new entrants we are just starting to hear about and not too frequently are considered tier 3. We'll add them to Crayon, poke around and maybe perform a SWOT analysis (nothing in-depth like our battlecards) and leverage for one deal or sales opportunity.