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Tips & Ideas for Better Competitive Intelligence
What is your viewpoint - take a risk!
This tip is based on the tip published in the February 2004 AWARE Marketing Tips newsletter.
Mao Zedung (Mao Tse Tung) - the first leader of the People's Republic of China - is said to have written:
We think too small, like the frog at the bottom of the well. He thinks the sky is only as big as the top of the well. If he surfaced, he would have an entirely different view.
When you look at your business landscape what do you see?
Are you like the frog, seeing only a limited picture, or do you see the wider view?
Many companies miss out on opportunities because they only see their immediate industry or geographic location, when there could be new opportunities slightly further away or in related industries. Part of successful strategic planning is to take this wider perspective and aim to identify opportunities that you can build on, using your existing competencies and strengths. Failure to do this means that you limit what you can achieve. If a competitor then comes along, and gets in first, you may find that you lose the chance forever - or even worse, if the world changes as a result, lose your market.
André Gide, the French Literature Nobel Prize winner, expressed this idea of looking further for opportunities in a different way.
One does not discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time.
Alexander Graham Bell, the inventer of the telephone, said something similar, when he talked about how people have a tendency to look backwards, to what they know, to what is safe, to what is certain - and avoid looking forward to new possibilities, and openings.
When one door closes, another door opens; but we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us.
Sometimes you need to take a risk - and go into unknown territories. The risks are high, but so are the potential rewards.
So, which do you choose?
- To remain like the frog, at the bottom of the well. He is safe. He is in a secure environment. And he can remain happy. At least until the developer comes along and decides to fill in the well, because the town now has a water supply delivered by pipes so the well is no longer needed.
- Or to surface, and see the world as it is. The world at the top of the well is much more dangerous - from predators, from drying out by going too far from the water needed to survive or just from getting squashed by some big animal (or human being) that steps on you because they didn't see you there. However it also gives you the opportunity to survive when the world changes, as when that developer fills in the well. You may also meet another frog and mate, and so have the chance to grow and spread across the world.
Seth Godin, the marketing guru and author of Permission Marketing, Unleashing the Ideavirus (UK Version / US Version) and other books explains the concept even more starkly:
The safest thing you can do is be risky.
Conversely, the riskiest strategy is to play it safe. We live in a world of fashion. Fashion is about getting people to talk about what you've done. To spread the word. If you're boring, you're invisible.
Given that all that matters is your ability to spread the word, then the single worst way to grow your company is to do something safe, something tried and true, something that's sure to work. Because it won't work. It'll fail. It'll fail because it's not worth talking about. It'll fail because you did something beyond reproach, something not worth buzzing about.
Before every business and every organization lie two simple paths. The first is the bureaucratic one, the one that can't possibly fail. That's the dangerous route. The other path, the path less taken, is the one filled with innovation and risk. But the risk isn't risky anymore.
The Marketer (Chartered Institute of Marketing's membership magazine), Issue 1, April 2004.
If you liked this tip, why not subscribe to the AWARE Marketing Tips newsletter. This contains more than just the Quick Tip produced on AWARE's Internet site. It contains recommended web-sites, AWARE news and much more. Also, visit the rest of our site for further ideas on competitive and marketing strategy. And if you need to obtain information on your competitors, check out AWARE's services pages to see how we can help you.
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Quick Tip
Quick Tip: Use multiple search engines
When doing an Internet search don't just use one search engine. Look at using a selection - Google, Yahoo!, and a few others. The reason is that each search engine uses different rules for ranking the order of pages - what they see as the most relevant pages.
By restricting your searches to just one engine you're also limiting the results you find to that search engines view of what is important. Your view may differ - and by using a range of search engines you will not only potentially find more relevant sites but you are also given a choice of different ranking methods.
Bonus Tip
Don't just use the standard search form but instead use the advanced search facilities. These allow for much more complex searches that are more likely to result in you finding what you need quickly.
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Books - Competitors (Fahey)
Recommended Book
Competitive Intelligence: Gathering, Analysing and Putting it to Work
Christopher Murphy
Buy UK £ or US$
Read our review of this book
| If you are interested in learning about competitive intelligence with a UK / European focus then this book is for you. Most books on CI are written by US authors and take a US perspective. They fail to note the significant differences between what is available in the US and Europe and the UK. For example, in the US the US Freedom of Information Act is key for finding a lot of information. Such legislation has only recently been enacted in the UK and the type of information available is more limited. In contrast, financial information is much easier to obtain in the UK than the US. Murphy's book redresses the balance and fills a gap in guiding the CI newcomer on how to gather CI in Europe.
One of the best sections is a detailed examination of the sources and types of financial CI information that can be obtained within the UK. In fact I think this is unique. Of all the CI books I've read - none give anything like the same depth on this crucial topic.
For a thorough review of this book check out FreePint's book review.
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For more recommendations visit our book selection.
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Public training
Competitive Intelligence Training
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