| name | gathering-competitive-intel |
| description | Use when sales reps lack current competitive intel, win rates against specific competitors are declining, new competitors enter the market, or competitive objections are unaddressed. Use when launching comparison content, preparing battlecards, or when competitor pricing, features, or positioning have shifted. Use after customer research and ICP definition are complete. |
| user-invocable | true |
| metadata | {"version":"1.0.0"} |
Competitive Intelligence
Overview
At $1M-5M ARR, buyers compare you to 3-5 alternatives in every deal. This skill builds an always-on competitive intelligence system that feeds real-time insight into sales enablement, positioning, content, and GTM decisions.
When to Use
- Sales reps encounter competitive objections without current intel
- Win rates against specific competitors are declining
- A new competitor enters your space or an adjacent player expands into it
- Competitor has changed pricing, features, or positioning
- Preparing comparison or alternative content for SEO/GEO
- Building or refreshing sales battlecards
- Lost deal analysis shows "competitor chosen" as a growing reason
- Entering a new segment where the competitive landscape is unfamiliar
Don't use when: You have current (<3 months) competitor profiles, battlecards are actively used by sales, and monitoring system is running with no major competitive events.
Quick Reference
| Phase | Duration | Output |
|---|
| Competitive landscape mapping | Day 1-2 | Competitive Landscape Map |
| Deep competitor profiles | Day 3-5 | Competitor Profiles (top 3-5) |
| Battlecard creation | Day 6-7 | Sales Battlecards per competitor |
| Always-on monitoring system | Week 2 | Monitoring System + Alert Framework |
| Competitive content strategy | Week 2-3 | Competitive Content Plan |
Core Deliverables
- Competitive Landscape Map -- Direct, indirect, and emerging competitors categorized with positioning, funding, and differentiators
- Deep Competitor Profiles -- Company overview, product, positioning, GTM strategy, customers, and win/loss patterns for top 3-5 competitors
- Sales Battlecards -- Per-competitor cards with quick summary, when we win/lose, differentiators, objection handling, landmines, and proof points
- Always-On Monitoring System -- Automated tracking of pricing, features, positioning, funding, hires, content, and review changes
- Competitive Content Plan -- Comparison pages, alternative pages, category pages, and migration guides
Common Mistakes
- Building static quarterly reports instead of always-on monitoring
- Trash-talking competitors (buyers see through it; acknowledge strengths, position on genuine advantages)
- Obsessing over feature parity instead of competing on outcomes, speed, and focus
- Ignoring "do nothing" as a competitor (inertia is often the biggest rival at this stage)
- Keeping intel siloed in marketing where sales never sees it
- Faking confidence on low-quality data (label confidence levels honestly)
Integration
Feeds into: building-positioning-messaging, designing-gtm-strategy, creating-sales-enablement, running-content-engine, optimizing-geo-visibility, reducing-cac
Refresh: Competitor profiles full refresh every 6 months. Battlecards continuous updates, full review quarterly. Monitoring system always-on, reviewed weekly. Win/loss competitive analysis monthly.
See workflow.md for detailed phase-by-phase execution, competitor profile templates, battlecard structures, monitoring frameworks, and integration point diagrams.
