You need to ensure that your brand builds authority in the market and this also involves knowing how to analyze the competition, identifying the degree of “threat” they represent to your company and the impact they can have on your business.
Are you curious and want to know more about how to map your competitors and what to do next?
Keep reading!
What is the purpose of competitor mapping?
The main objective of competitor mapping is clear in the name of this technique. The goal is to map, identify and analyze a company's competitors.
This practice is widely used, especially when it comes to understanding what improvements need to be made and what are the biggest differentiators that your company has, which ends up being a highlight in the market compared to the competition.
Therefore, you need to not only observe your company's competitors, but also analyze the product and service it offers. All characteristics are essential when mapping, including: price, brand authority, cost-benefit, product quality and added value.
Why is competitor mapping so important?
There is a well-known quote from Napoleon Bonaparte that explains the process of mapping the competition very well:
Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. (Napoleon Bonaparte)
This ends up being a fundamental lesson investors email lists when it comes to identifying who our competitors really are and what the strengths and weaknesses of your business are compared to each of them.
Don't think that this is just about mapping out the competition with the aim of learning more about other companies in your segment or that offer a solution that can outperform yours.
Furthermore, identifying competitors strengthens the sales pitch and this is essential to ensure success at the end of the negotiation.
Have you ever thought about how a sales professional on your team would react if a customer, during the negotiation process, presented a certain characteristic of one of your competitors as an argument?
If you do not have your company's competition mapping up to date, the professional may be caught off guard, leaving them in an unfavorable position to close the sale.
So it is important that we anticipate these issues, because that way we can protect ourselves from any unforeseen events.
Stay tuned!
How to start a competitor mapping?
Mapping the competition can be a great ally when it comes to building an assertive sales technique .
To do this, it is important that you know the first steps to take when analyzing your competitors. This way, you can identify which strengths stand out and which weaknesses are detrimental.
This also has a direct impact on your own company’s analysis. Knowing how to identify what we can improve in our product or service generates insights and constructive changes, and that’s what every sales team is looking for, right?
To start the process, you can analyze the company's presence on social media . In this case, an essential platform to analyze is LinkedIn , where you can not only learn more about the company's values and strategies, but also learn about the company's relationship with consumers and employees.
Furthermore, identifying the difference that your company has in relation to a certain competitor is a great weapon to argue with the customer in the commercial approach, taking away any chance of the competition in closing the deal.
Know how to identify direct and indirect competitors
In addition to mapping the competition, it is important that your company knows how to identify what type of competitor it is analyzing.
After all, each one has a strategy to be developed. Now, learn the difference between them:
Direct competitors
In short, every direct competitor is one that competes with your company directly, operating within the same business model.
In other words, these competitors offer the same product, with the same target audience. This makes the degree of differentiation between your product and that of your competitor very low.
A good example of this are chocolate brands, such as Nescau and Toddy. Both offer the same product and are part of the same market.
Indirect competitors
An indirect competitor, on the other hand, operates in any market, but solves the customer's problem in the same way as your product or service, meaning that your company ends up not closing the deal.
The degree of differentiation here is greater. Following the same example regarding chocolate drinks and the Toddy and Nescau brands, we can say that they are indirect competitors of products such as Nescafé, which also offers a powdered drink, but they are still distinct products.
