1. Obtaining Competitive Info: Tools and Ethics/Morals
In this session, we will present traditional as well as innovative ways to obtain competitive
information and then discuss the ethics and morals behind using these techniques.
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You will learn:
-- How to download an entire website for evaluation
-- How social media mining can help to find competitive information
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-- What SEO tools can be used to learn about your competitors keywords, ad spend, etc.
-- What job boards can tell you about competitors
We will discuss (Warning, everyone may not agree ☺) :
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-- Should you ask customers for competitor presentations / RFP answers?
-- If it’s right to act as a consult when calling into competitors
-- Whether joining competitor user groups / mailing lists under an alias
Gary Palgon; CISSP John Mansour
VP Product Management and Strategy Managing Partner
Liaison Technologies Proficientz
o ce

2. TYPICAL TOOLS OF THE TRADE
Industry Analysts
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Trade Shows
Focus Groups
Customer Advisory Boards
Professional Services or Customer Support
Competitor Collateral
User groups
Third party analysis/testing
And many more…more to follow
more more

3. THIRD PARTY WIN/LOSS ANALYSIS:
The
Th customer didn’t h
t did ’t have sufficient f di
ffi i t funding
We went with a vendor that worked with us.
Our product doesn’t have the right features
doesn t
You guys came in and blew the demo…!
The customer lost interest!
The sales rep never called us back !!
Is it to ask a customer for competitive information?
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Copy of the RFP answers / presentations?
View / copy of the competitive product?

4. JOB BOARDS AND COMPETITOR INTEL
Can tell you about a new
y
product they may be
developing
Can tell
C t ll you about a new
b t
market they may be entering
Is
I it OK to i
t inquire about a position t obtain competitive i f ?
i b t iti to bt i titi info?
Is it OK to interview about a position to obtain competitive info?

5. DOWNLOADING COMPETITOR WEBSITE
http://www.httrack.com/ is a free tool to download websites
- Can ignore robot.txt rules!
Is it OK to download competitor websites?
Using your normal URL?
Hiding behind cable provider (e.g. Comcast)

6. MINING SOCIAL MEDIA
Is it OK to sign up for competitor g p
g p p groups?
Sign up as yourself?
Sign up using alias?

7. SEO INFORMATION AND ADS
www.SpyFu.com
www SpyFu com
Tells you:
- Spend for PPC
- Best paid keyword
rankings
- Top Ad Competitors
- Paid keywords
- etc…
Is it OK to use competitor names in Pay-Per-Click Ads?
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As a keyword search term?
In the ad text?

8. CALLING INTO COMPETITORS
“Greetings, I’m calling to conduct a
survey about the use of your types
of solutions when used for B2B
blah, blah, blah…I’d like to know if
you’ve seen blah, blah, blah…”
Is it OK to:
Pay an outside consultant to call into competitors to obtain
information (e.g. “survey”)?
Have an employee to call into competitors to obtain
information (e.g. “survey”)

9. What other ways and
thoughts on the ethics?
th ht th thi ?

10. Obtaining Competitive Info: Tools and Ethics/Morals
Is it to ask a customer for competitive information?
Copy of the RFP answers / presentations?
View / copy of the competitive product?
Is it OK to inquire about a position to obtain competitive info?
Is it OK to interview about a position to obtain competitive info?
Is it OK to download competitor websites?
Using your normal URL?
Hiding behind cable provider (e.g. Comcast)
Is it OK to sign up for competitor groups?
Sign up as yourself?
Sign up using alias?
Is
I it OK to use competitor names in Pay-Per-Click Ad ?
t tit i P P Cli k Ads?
As a keyword search term?
In the ad text?
Is
I it OK to:
t
Pay an outside consultant to call into competitors to obtain information (e.g. “survey”)?
Have an employee to call into competitors to obtain information (e.g. “survey”)