Top 10 Questions for Sales Competitor Analysis (Deeper Dive)

Competitive intelligence has become a standard part of the B2B sales process, with a growing number of competitive intelligence tools providing a lot of information at no, or little, cost.

Competitive intelligence for sales aims to empower sales teams with competitor insights that let salespeople lead more informed conversations. Competitive intelligence such as competitor pricing, features, sales pitch and other insights via sources ranging from the competitor’s website, to your own sales reps and the many available online tools.

As you continue reading below, we’ll discuss how to gather competitive intelligence for sales and the top 10 questions in competitor research for sales teams.

In almost every competitive intelligence project, sales is an important focus. What is the competitor doing to succeed in sales? What is their messaging? How do they price proposals? Most companies want to know many of the same questions about their competitors. Across the hundreds of competitor research projects we have conducted, these are the top ten questions about competitors’ sales activities that our customers want answered.

1. Who are the competitor’s customers?

Knowing your competitor’s customers in sales is crucial to understanding what kind of product you want to offer and staying competitive when pricing is concerned. If you’re not marketing a product that your customers want, or your prices are too high compared to your competitor, this will harm your business.

2. How much does the competitor charge for their product?

Competitor pricing is always important. Knowing what your competitor charges for their products will allow you to adjust your prices and stay competitive when advertising your product. Customers want to know they’re buying a good product but are not overpaying for something they can find at another vendor.

3. What else goes into pricing - such as discounts and the cost of implementation services?

Other useful information about how competitors charge for their products includes ancillary services and add-ons. For example:

• Discounts vs list pricing - what kind of discounts and how much are these discounts?

• Are there additional costs for implementation and other professional services?

• What are the costs of premium support tiers?

• Does the competitor offer training, for free or fee?

4. What is the competitor’s sales pitch?

Knowing your competitor's sales pitch will help you better market your product and pitch sales appropriately. Key questions to ask include:

• Is the competitor’s sales pitch customized to particular segments?

• Do they pitch actively against you e.g. with feature comparison tables?

• Which business teams seem to be involved?

• How well does the pitch land with prospects?

5. What services are offered for implementation, customer success and support?

Competitors may offer a more fully rounded offering beyond the product itself by including implementation, training, integration, support and other services.

• Are such services offered?

• How well resourced is the competitor to deliver these?

• What are typical deployment timelines?

• How satisfied are customers with these services?

• What are the limitations?

6. How is the sales team organized e.g. by geography, product, customer size, or industry?

How competitors organize their sales team - by region, product, industry or other customer segments - will give you insights into how you can compete against them, and how they go to market. Having a good understanding of your competitor’s sales organization will let you better compete against them.

• Who are the sales leaders? What is their background

• How are sales teams structured?

• How are salespeople incentivized?

• How do they work with partners

7. How many employees work in sales?

Knowing the number of employees working at competitor sales organizations will help you understand how well they are set up to compete and what they may be prioritizing.

• How many people work in sales?

• How has this grown recently?

• What jobs are they hiring for?

8. What is in the competitor’s sales demo?

Knowing what is in the competitor’s sales demo can help you plan your own sales pitch, and sales demo, better.

• What does the competitor say about their product?

• What do they say about you?

• Is the sales demo live? Is it customized?

• Who attends the sales demo?

9. How customized is the competitor’s sales process?

Beyond the sales demo, it can be useful to know what else about the competitor’s sales process is customized. For example:

• Are there different approaches for different customer segments?

• Does the messaging change depending on the product being sold?

• Do they involve sales engineering? How early?

• Which segments are diverted to the channel?

10. What does the competitor’s sales process focus on e.g. features, use cases, benefits?

Sales pitches can be centered on product features, ROI, industry use cases or requirements (such as regulation), benefits (such as a happier workforce). Knowing which option the competitor has chosen can help you better target your own sales pitch.

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