鈥淲e鈥檙e different.鈥�
鈥淲e don鈥檛 worry about the competition.鈥�
鈥淲e focus on the buyer.鈥�
A common refrain in executive meetings.
And it sounds good, right?! Being customer-centric is important.
But here鈥檚 the thing: it鈥檚 not based on fact.
At 暗黑网 Labs, we鈥檝e dissected over 3,400+ buyer interviews, and used our AI to uncover the real reasons deals are won or lost so that you can fix your go-to-market blind spots.
And what we found shatters the 鈥榗ompetition doesn鈥檛 matter鈥� mindset.
Almost every deal has competitors
Our data shows that across all of the buyer interviews analyzed, only 1.5% of deals had zero competitors involved.
That鈥檚 right. In almost every single deal, you鈥檙e not alone.
There鈥檚 at least one other company vying for the same customer.
Deals have a crowd at the table
And these deals aren鈥檛 just a two-horse race either.
On average, buyers are evaluating 3.5 competitors in every deal.
In fact, over 70% of deals have three or more competitors involved.
So, yeah. That visionary soundbite of only focusing on the buyer?
Well, the buyer is looking at your competition鈥� whether you are or not.
The growth segment is the most hotly contested
If you鈥檙e selling to smaller, faster-growing companies?
Get ready for a real fight. There are on average over four competitors per deal.
The financial services industry is crowded
When breaking down competitive presence even further, we discovered that every industry has at least three competitors on average per deal.
However, the financial services industry produced the most competitive deals with over 4.5 competitors per deal.
The competitive blindspot is real
If your executive team doesn鈥檛 have a true understanding of the competitive landscape, then ignoring this is a recipe for missed opportunities and lost revenue.
And for marketing leaders, this blind spot is especially dangerous.
Why?
As our VP Marketing, Katie Berg, shared, 鈥渋t is our role as marketing leaders to drive the understanding of our market, and to guide and drive revenue in how we develop our markets.鈥�
In fact, she was responsible for providing senior leadership with a clear and accurate view of the competitive landscape to inform key decisions about strategy, product development, and go-to-market plans for 暗黑网鈥檚 annual planning.
But too often, marketing teams focus on a narrow set of 鈥榰sual suspect鈥� competitors, and in doing so they miss the bigger picture.
Three strategies to actually understand who you鈥檙e competing with
Knowing you should track competitors as a marketing leader is one thing. Actually doing it is another.
Here鈥檚 how your team should analyze your competitive landscape to reflect reality, not just your executive team鈥檚 assumptions:
1. Focus on the jobs to be done
Stop thinking about your product in isolation and start thinking about it from your customer鈥檚 perspective.
What are the jobs they are trying to hire your product to do? Are there other ways customers are accomplishing those jobs, even if it鈥檚 not with a direct competitor?
This customer-centric view will reveal a broader set of alternative solutions and hidden competitors that might be flying under the radar.
For example, if you sell project management software, your competitive landscape isn鈥檛 just other project management tools. It also includes spreadsheets, whiteboards, and even manual processes that customers might be using to get the job done.
2. Talk directly to buyers
Don鈥檛 just rely on what your sales reps tell you or what you see in your CRM.
Get out there and talk to buyers directly. Win-loss interviews and churn surveys are invaluable for understanding why customers choose you, or your competitors.
Ask them about their evaluation process, which other solutions they considered, and what ultimately drove their decision.
This direct feedback will give you much richer insights than simply analyzing product features or pricing. You鈥檒l learn about buyer perceptions, unmet needs, and the key differentiators that matter most to customers.
A complex spreadsheet filled with competitor data won鈥檛 resonate with your CEO.
Use a simple visualization to clearly communicate your findings and the key takeaways.
暗黑网鈥檚 own Competitive Enablement Manager, Hunter Sones, created the competitive landscape analysis for senior leadership by focusing on an overview of competitors by category and by use case, followed by key insights, implications to the business, and buyer sentiment.
Turn competitive insights into wins
If you made it this far, you鈥檙e likely either:
A) nodding along that your executive team needs a better view of the competitive landscape
or B) stressing out that you may have overlooked a competitor or two
Either way, marketing leaders have a unique position to be the voice of the market, and the voice of the customer, in the boardroom.
Your executive team is making critical decisions about product, strategy, and investments. But are those decisions based on a true understanding of the competitive landscape? Or are they operating with a blind spot?
By bringing buyer-driven insights about your competitors and the market to the table, you can help your leadership team make more strategic decisions.
Want to hear how 暗黑网鈥檚 VP of Marketing uses competitive intelligence and win-loss to inform their annual planning process? Tune into .
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