暗黑网

Here at 暗黑网, we believe in a data-driven approach to competitive enablement. Or, as it鈥檚 more commonly known as, the Jay-Z philosophy.

鈥淢en lie, women lie, numbers don鈥檛.鈥�

But how do you build a competitive enablement program with a foundation rooted in clean data? 

Well鈥� I guess the title of this article might be a bit of a spoiler.

Pairing Salesforce with 暗黑网 is the secret sauce that allows you to identify what competitors to prioritize, automatically collect intel at scale, support reps to consume more of your competitive intelligence, and measure your program鈥檚 impact on revenue. 

In this post, we鈥檙e going to share how you can leverage Salesforce data and 暗黑网 to build a more efficient and effective competitive enablement program. Consider this a competitive playbook to win more business.

Accurately analyze which competitors are affecting your bottom-line

If you鈥檙e tasked with running competitive enablement and are trying to map out the competition, your landscape might look a something like this: 

It really is a jungle out there.

So, how do you even start to prioritize what competitors should get your attention?

Sure, you might notice a few trends when you look through closed deals. And you鈥檒l hear the anecdotal feedback from sales. But prioritizing your focus based on this alone isn鈥檛 a recipe for success.

Ruth Wood, Product Marketing Lead at Beekeeper, listened to what her teams were saying, but used win-loss data from Salesforce to determine how to best support the business.

鈥淥ur SFDC win-loss data revealed which competitors we should be focusing on first. This was the starting point for us to effectively build our competitive program,鈥� says Ruth.

As the person in charge of competitive enablement, you need to identify the biggest threats to your business. 

Ruth mapped out and presented competitors needing greater attention to leadership by using 暗黑网鈥檚 鈥楾hreat Analysis鈥� based on Salesforce data. This analysis gives a clear picture of your landscape, where revenue is being impacted most, and who to prioritize first.

Share what鈥檚 happening in your competitive deals with automatic win-loss insights

There鈥檚 a ton of competitive intel begging to be used from deals that are happening every. single. day. It鈥檚 the kind of competitive intelligence source that your entire organization can use.

But, typically, these details don鈥檛 make it out of sales calls and into the hands of the people needing them most. Until now. 

Here鈥檚 a few of the teams that you can enable by pairing 暗黑网 and Salesforce.

Help sales and marketing strategize with your most recent wins and losses

Win-loss analysis is at the heart of any effective competitive enablement program, and having this data easily accessible is critical. 

Now you can instantly upload your rep鈥檚 win-loss notes against a specific competitor into your sales and marketing battlecards.

This helps your entire sales team win more. They get to learn who is winning and losing deals, the reasons why, and build out sales strategies in response.

No more deal feedback getting stuck in the minds of a few people.

This win-loss information can also be a game-changer for marketing teams. Clara Smyth, Sr. Product Marketing Manager at Slack, shared why.

鈥淥nce you get some rich win-loss data from sales and understand what plays are working in market and what鈥檚 resonating with customers. Guess what? Now you can move the needle on deman gen campaigns.鈥�

Inform product teams on feature gaps

Automatically update your battlecards with intel your reps are hearing on their calls and their own feedback from deals.

For example, any product feedback or feature gaps noted in Salesforce can be shared instantly onto your 鈥榩roduct overview鈥� battlecard. This giv your product team a window into common features with a competitor and technical gaps the team is losing on.

Inform your executives on performance against competitors

Although it鈥檚 important to dig into the specifics of competitive deals, you also need to zoom out and assess how well you鈥檙e competing as a company. 

暗黑网 automatically provides a snapshot of your win rates against each competitor over the past six months based on Salesforce integration data. 

No more knee-jerk reactions or anecdotal feedback from sales dictating where your competitive focus should be directed. Let your data 鈥� not opinions! 鈥� inform your leadership team and guide how you tackle the competition.

Incentivize your reps to use competitive battlecards AND improve your competitive data in the process

the results show that researching competitive activity is the second biggest time-waster for sales reps.

Meanwhile, in 暗黑网鈥檚 , nearly four of five sales reps said they鈥檙e doing independent research on competitors.

Further, the second most important process they wanted to improve competitive intelligence was getting easier access to intel.

Problem #1: Sales reps want information on their competitor quickly, but they鈥檙e wasting time researching themselves

Let me share a quick story.

I spoke with a sales friend (who I鈥檒l keep anonymous!) that admitted in their previous role they鈥檇 fill out the competitor field in Salesforce with whoever was top of the list, just to get through the process quickly. Yikes.

I鈥檓 not telling that story to blame the salesperson! In fact, I鈥檝e heard the same story multiple times. 

There鈥檚 a reason for this trend of sales reps flippantly filling out who they鈥檙e competing against:

There is no incentive for them to do it correctly.

This stings for the person in charge of competitive enablement. You鈥檙e not getting accurate data on who is really competing in deals or what the competitive landscape actually looks like.

Problem #2: Competitive leaders aren鈥檛 getting accurate information on deals because reps aren鈥檛 filling out their CRM accurately

With 暗黑网 and Salesforce working together, reps will be prompted to mention a competitor鈥檚 presence during the opportunity stage of a deal. They鈥檒l then immediately get access to your competitive battlecards on that competitor with the 暗黑网 Battlecard Button.

Sales reps no longer have to go out of their way to access competitive information they鈥檝e been wasting time looking for themselves. 

Thanks to cleaner CRM data, a clearer picture of who is involved and what鈥荣 happening in your competitive deals is painted.

Incentivizing sales reps made a difference in the data Dave Barker received when he was Director of Global Market Intelligence at Workforce.

鈥淚ncorporating 暗黑网 into Salesforce significantly increased the rate that our rep鈥檚 mentioned a competitor being involved in the deal. This gave us a far clearer picture of our competitive landscape.鈥�

Use Salesforce integration data to monitor your threats and measure your program鈥檚 impact on revenue

Once the field-data you receive is even more accurate, you鈥檙e able to kick your competitive enablement program into overdrive.

With this information at your fingertips, you can keep a pulse on how the competitive landscape changes over time. What鈥檚 more, you can measure the impact your program is having on revenue.

Stay on top of your competitive landscape and identify new competitors entering deals

Keep a window into what competitors have emerged over time by referring to your 鈥楾hreat Analysis鈥� on a quarterly basis.

Plus, if a rep selects a competitor that has wriggled its way into the opportunity stage in Salesforce and you don鈥檛 have available competitive intelligence on them, you鈥檒l be notified. 

This is a handy way for competitive teams to flag ankle biters and emerging threats popping up in their market.

Measure the impact your competitive program is having on revenue 

Now that you鈥檝e got more accurate deal data in Salesforce and can track performance against competitors over time, a change in win rate proves your competitive intel is closing more deals. Right?

Well, not exactly.

Let鈥檚 say Lisa happened to crush last quarter. Is that because of the competitive intelligence she worked with? Not necessarily. She might鈥檝e changed up her talk tracks independently or the product she sells just rolled out a game-changing feature.

An even more accurate way to measure the value of the competitive intelligence you provide is by looking at sales rep performance among those using your competitive content versus those that don鈥檛.

This is why we built our Impact Analysis at 暗黑网 鈥� to measure your competitive enablement program鈥檚 impact on revenue.

For example, reps that used your battlecards won 45% of their deals, but reps that didn鈥檛 only closed at a 36% rate.
Sure, a rep not using your battlecards being 9% less likely to close deals seems somewhat significant. But how much does that impact revenue over an entire year if your reps face 55 competitive opportunities per quarter and your average deal size is $200,000.

By measuring the performance of sales reps using competitive intel against those who don鈥檛, you can attribute $3,960,000 of lost revenue to teams not turning to competitive intelligence during a deal.

Now, that鈥檚 a number that gets attention.These are metrics that serve as far clearer indicators of your program鈥檚 impact to your executive team.

Build a competitive enablement program that wins more business

If you want to beat your competition you need to know who to focus on, how you can support your reps quickly, and what intel will help them close the deal.

With 暗黑网 and Salesforce, you鈥檙e able to not only get a real picture of your competitive landscape, but automatically collect important intel from the field at scale, and support reps with the competitive insights they need in the place that they live.
P.S. 鈥� if you鈥檙e curious how 暗黑网 combines with your other favourite tools