| name | battle-scanner |
| description | Competitive intelligence engine that deconstructs competitor positioning, surfaces exploitable weaknesses, and predicts competitive responses. Use when: competitive analysis, competitor research, competitive landscape, competitive intelligence, who are our competitors, how do we compete against. |
Battle Scanner (ARMOR Analysis)
Deconstruct competitor strategy, surface exploitable weaknesses, predict their responses to your moves, and generate win/loss playbooks.
When to Use
- Pre-launch competitive assessment
- Competitive deal strategy
- Quarterly competitive landscape refresh
- New competitor entering the market
- Win rate declining against specific competitor
What You'll Need
Critical inputs (ask if not provided):
- Your product/company name and category
- Top 3-5 known competitors
Nice-to-have:
- Signal Radar output (competitive threat signals)
- Win/loss data from CRM
- Customer feedback mentioning competitors
Process
Step 1: 4-Ring Competitor Classification
Map every competitor into concentric rings:
| Ring | Type | Threat Level | Examples |
|---|
| Ring 1 | Direct -- same problem, same approach | Highest | Head-to-head feature competitors |
| Ring 2 | Indirect -- same problem, different approach | High | Alternative solution categories |
| Ring 3 | Adjacent -- different problem, could pivot | Medium | Companies with overlapping capabilities |
| Ring 4 | Substitute -- manual/DIY/status quo | Baseline | Spreadsheets, manual processes, in-house builds |
Step 2: ARMOR Deep Dive (per Ring 1-2 competitor)
Analyze each competitor across 5 dimensions:
| Dimension | What to Analyze | Key Questions |
|---|
| Architecture | Product architecture, tech stack, scalability | What are their technical limitations? Where is their tech debt? |
| Reputation | Brand perception, NPS, review scores, analyst position | Where do customers love them? Where do customers complain? |
| Moat | Defensibility -- network effects, data, switching costs, IP | What makes them hard to displace? What is their weakest moat? |
| Openings | Exploitable weaknesses -- complaints, gaps, pricing issues | Where are they vulnerable RIGHT NOW? |
| Response Prediction | How they will respond to your launch | Will they: fast-follow, price war, FUD, ignore, or acquire? |
For Response Prediction, consider:
- Their resources (cash, team size, engineering velocity)
- Their strategic priorities (are they focused elsewhere?)
- Historical behavior (how did they react to past competitive moves?)
Step 3: Win/Loss Pattern Extraction
For each Ring 1 competitor, document:
- Win scenarios: When and why we beat them (deal stage, buyer type, use case)
- Loss scenarios: When and why they beat us (same breakdown)
- Swing factors: What tips deals one way or the other
- Killer questions: Questions that expose their weaknesses in a sales conversation
- Trap questions: Questions they ask to make us look bad (and how to handle them)
Step 4: Competitive Landscape Summary
Create the master competitive landscape document with:
- Market positioning map (2x2 or multi-axis)
- Per-competitor ARMOR summary (1 paragraph each)
- Top 3 strategic competitive moves to make in next 90 days
Output
Save to outputs/battle-scanner-[YYYY-MM-DD].md
Deliverables:
- Competitive Landscape Map: 4-ring visual with all competitors classified and ARMOR-scored
- Competitor Profiles: Per-competitor ARMOR deep dive with evidence
- Win/Loss Playbooks: Scenario-based guides for competitive deal situations
- Response Prediction Matrix: How each competitor will likely react to your launch with counter-strategies
Chain Connections
- Next skill: Run
competitive-exec-brief to create the executive-ready PPTX summary
- Also feeds:
position-lock (competitive gaps inform positioning), enablement-forge (battle cards become sales assets)
- Enhanced by: Run after
signal-radar (signals reveal competitive threats) and whitespace-finder (gaps show where competitors are weak)
