In a world where information is always at our fingertips, we are drowning in a sea of competitive intelligence that is commoditized. Press releases, news, social media feeds, website updates: it’s competitive intelligence that every company has access to. So what intel is truly unique? What intel can provide the edge to outsmart competitors? The answer lies within the most valuable source of competitive intel in your organization – the untapped gold mine of competitive intelligence possessed by employees. In this article, we will explore seven strategies to harness and leverage this valuable resource so you can stay one step ahead.
Employees are the #1 most valuable source of competitive intelligence.
63 percent of competitive intelligence professionals believe competitive intelligence from employees is extremely valuable, with an additional 29 percent deeming it valuable – that’s more than any other source1. A staggering 92 percent of those surveyed understand that employees possess a unique perspective and a hyper-local view of what’s happening on the ground. They hear whispers of competitor activities long before they hit the headlines. Tapping into their wisdom can provide a powerful source of intel that leads to competitive advantage.
But getting field intel has been a monumental challenge
Gathering and using intel from employees is no easy feat. Employees are often busy, forgetful, or resistant to sharing what they know. On the other side, competitive intelligence professionals piece together fragments of information from surveys, conversations, channels, and emails. It’s a manual, laborious, and time-consuming process. Scaling it is impossible.
Companies that fail to unlock this intel are falling behind
Companies without a strategy for tapping into employee-driven competitive intelligence are falling behind, often without realizing it. Behind closed doors, they struggle with longer sales cycles, lost deals, and lower win rates. In an economy where everyone must perform at the top of their game, the gap between companies harnessing employee-driven competitive intelligence and those that don’t is widening. This gap has a direct impact on the bottom line.
Don’t fall behind: Follow these 7 strategies and gain that competitive edge
In helping organizations tap this valuable resource, we’ve found seven critical strategies to drive the success of an employee sharing CI program. Let’s dive into them now.
Strategy #1: Define It
Defining the type of competitive intelligence you seek is crucial. Be crystal clear, specific, and intentional. By sharpening the definition, you provide employees with a precise target and make it easier for them to deliver high-quality, accurate information.
Groopit takes this one step further and helps you establish an underlying data model for all employee generated intelligence.
Strategy #2: Score It
Transform qualitative anecdotes into quantitative data by implementing a four-point scale. Avoid the middle-option trap and push employees to provide ratings above or below the dividing line, ensuring more actionable insights.
Groopit uses this strategy to give you quantitative data so that you’ll know, for example, a pricing issue surfaced 138 times over the last five weeks and 93% the related sales opportunity was lost or likely lost. That’s quantitative intel leaders can use to inform decisions.
Strategy #3: Time It
Streamline the process of sharing competitive intelligence by making it quick and effortless. Contributing should take less than a minute, removing the burden of extensive time investment. Where possible, use one-tap pick-lists (this will also keep data consistent) and keep the manual inputs to a minimum.
Groopit simplifies sharing to three taps and less than a minute by removing all of the friction, so that companies can gather better intel, more frequently, and faster.
Strategy#4: Connect It
Meet employees where they work by allowing them to share competitive intelligence from existing platforms like Microsoft Teams, Slack, Salesforce, or web and mobile apps. Eliminating the need for additional steps or disruptions to their workflow increases their willingness to share.
Groopit makes the connections effortless, so employees share from wherever they work – Teams, Slack, Salesforce, email and more.
Strategy #5: Share It
To build competitive advantage, make competitive intelligence automatically shared and easily consumable. Deliver the information in its raw state, in the most lightweight and consumable form possible, creating an environment where everyone is continuously learning.
Groopit delivers intel directly from frontline sellers to the appropriate business decision-makers through easy-to-consume data feeds. Competitive pricing intel can be sent to the pricing and licensing team. Competitive product intel can be sent to the appropriate product teams. Share precisely the right data with precisely the right people.
Strategy #6: Recognize It
Acknowledge and celebrate the contributions of employees who share valuable insights. Creating a culture that encourages the sharing of competitive intelligence and recognizing the impact of collective contributions serves as a powerful incentive for participation.
Groopit automates this as well. Groopit provides an automated summary of who is sharing, and what they are sharing, so that competitive intelligence professionals can recognize contributions and contributors through their weekly newsletters, Slack channels, or any form of communication.
Strategy #7: Model It
Enlist employees who are already engaged and modeling the behavior you want from everyone. Champions create a ripple effect. Their behaviors can have a profound impact on the entire company.
The untapped gold mine of competitive intelligence within your organization lies in the knowledge and perspectives of your employees. By harnessing their insights and making it easy for them to contribute valuable information, you’ll unlock a competitive advantage that differentiates you from the competition. Implementing the seven strategies we outlined – Define it, Score it, Time it, Connect it, Share it, Recognize it, and Model it – enables you to streamline the process, create transparency, and empower everyone in your organization to make data-driven decisions. When you embrace these strategies, you’ll seize the opportunity to thrive in a fiercely competitive landscape. In the process, you’ll transform your company’s ability to gather, analyze, and act on competitive intelligence and position yourself at the forefront of your industry.
Interested in learning more? See how Groopit’s crowdsolving solution can help you implement these strategies and radically simplify the way employees share and use competitive intel.
