Erin Robinson, in Sales Communication for Reynolds & Reynolds, advises you to look to your current sales team for help:

We receive a lot of our competitive information from field sales. They are the associates in the trenches with our customers every day. Once we receive the information, we do some research to verify its validity and then we publish it back out to the field. This works very well to inform the field of the competition's selling strategies and how they are approaching customers.

2. Contact the competition directly

Some of the advice we received encourages you to come out from under your camouflage and confront the competition openly. Other recommendations include altering your identity or using an accomplice to get closer to the competition.

What would Agent 007 do? Probably something far different from what most of you would do.

Stefanie Antunes, Consultant for MC3 Intel, provides the following strategic guidance:

As someone who's done competitive intelligence (CI) both in an internal function and now as a CI consultant, I think the best way to get competitor information is at trade shows. Most CI professionals pride themselves on getting great information in legal and ethical ways—and a trade show is the best way to do this without compromising your, or your company's, value system. Learning the art of asking the right questions is another story. Ask a question that will lead to what you want to know, without making your competitor feel like they're telling you something they shouldn't.

Mayra Harley, President of Smart Marketing Concepts, suggests collecting competitive materials:

It is good to collect marketing materials and product brochures as they provide *hints* into their thinking. But for me, the best place to seek information is to read the company's press releases archive. Even better, if the company is public, then more in-depth information is made available through public filings with SEC.

An undercover SWOT Team member adds:

I have found the most effective way of finding out information about the competition is to call them. I make a list of questions on what I need to know, then make at least three different calls to the competition. I often get tips that something is going on when customers call to find out if we have something better. I find it is useful to have my customer service team ask questions and give me the heads up. The Internet is also a good source of detailed information if your competitors update their sites regularly.

Business owner Ken Moore gives this advice for contacting the competition directly:

Sign up as one of their clients. I have found similar services to those that I offer and I sign up as a user. This has several advantages:

1. I get great ideas on services.

2. I learn the going price.

3. Marketing techniques are very useful.

4. Very important: I see the over-inflated promises and I can springboard off them into real advantages.

5. I do my spying and my initial inquiries using a spam catcher e-mail address.

Charles Von Thun, CEO of PositiveWare, Inc., recommends relying on current relationships as well as contacting the competitor's employees to ensure you do not launch a new product release “into the teeth of a competitor's spending”:

The competitor's employees are really the best source. Someone at a lower level in a sales or marketing role will probably cough up the best information, with no deception required. You are definitely interested, after all, and that is all you need to express. It is their job to qualify you.

3. Conduct actual surveillance

One SWOT Team member is a practicing secret agent. He describes how he uses surveillance:

As an independent specialty retailer, I have found that surveillance is a great way to gather info. On more than one occasion, I have watched customers come out of my competitors' stores and made note of what the customers are carrying out. This provides a snapshot of what they are selling. (Fortunately, the products in my business are large and heavy, so they are not often bagged.) Another trick is to buy something small from your competitor first thing in the morning and at the end of the day. Most cash register receipts have an invoice number, so you can see how many customers they have had in a day. This only works with certain register operations.

4. Hire free or professional resources

A few external organizations provide competitive data for free. Others charge a fee for their consulting services.

Constandse, in Market Research for Unimills, describes free services:

To find competitive data, some companies look at annual reports, search on the Internet for news about the competitor and visit their Web site. These are free sources to get good competitive information about the company, their products, strategy and financial information and more.

Kitty Delaney, Director at Delaney Woods and Associates Pty. Ltd., explains how consulting services work:

Information brokers develop an overview of the competition and the client's industry. This includes finding data online, telephone research, sourcing newspaper articles, financial research and so on. Brokers put together a package from this information for the client who makes decisions based on this secondary information. Sometimes research indicates there is a need for primary data gathering—but most of the time secondary information is sufficient information to get the client started.

Another secret agent gives this tip for unearthing information:

There are several ways to get competitive information on a shoestring budget. The trade-off is often time. If yours is an industry or product where little information is available, consider developing a survey about product features and share the results with participants. (Be sure to check with your legal team to avoid anti-trust issues here).

If you have a sales force, ask them for competitive information. Troll the publications (and save articles written by or about your competition) for clues as to their products and strategies moving forward. Finally, most people are pretty open on the phone. Just call them up and ask them questions. Be prepared to share information about your product in return.

5. Develop analysis tools and remember your goals

Whether you get help from another organization or consultant or do the research yourself, use an analysis tool to document the information. One anonymous SWOT Team member gives this tip for analyzing data:

The starting basis for any research should be a Competitor Matrix and a Product Matrix whereby all competitive offerings are listed by attribute. Initially, this can be populated by using competitor advertising material. Once the basics are completed, the next step is to request the sales force's help in obtaining additional information. This is easily obtained from customers or prospects and could range from copies of competitor proposals to quotations. The information gleaned from these should be used to further populate the matrices. Only once all these inexpensive sources of data have been exhausted should one, in my opinion, resort to external research consultants. The reason being that these companies often do not have the same industry and product insight as you and your staff have, and the answers they come up with are often not at the level or depth that are required. The amount of time spent on briefing them often outweighs the benefits of their input. Lastly, a point to note is that a SWOT analysis should not be an event but a process. SWOT analysis is a living document that should be constantly updated and reviewed. All too often this is done only once a year at strategic planning or budgeting time. The same applies to the Competitor and Product Matrix. By following these principals, you can take a lot of pain and aggravation out of the SWOT process.

One thing to remember when analyzing any kind of data is that the outcome should reflect your goals for collecting the competitive information. Mr. Yaman of Fidelo states eloquently that you should contact those in the marketplace directly or indirectly. His zen advice supports all ways of learning about the competition:

Contact your customers, those who you wish were your customers, and your competitors. The goals are where the answers are.

Hurrah for SWOT Team Espionage!

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