© 2019 All Rights Reserved
© 2019 All Rights Reserved
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About Cookies OKWhat is Competitive Intelligence
This is an extract from a lecture we gave to MBAs, business school students & graduates at the University of Westminster in London. Watch for a taste or click here for the full lecture.
Contact us if you would also like us to talk to your employees or students on any aspect of competitive or marketing intelligence.
Businesses (and people) over time develop habits and patterns of working. Sometimes these lead to success. However often they stop management from seeing reality – especially when the business environment changes. Competitive intelligence can identify these business blindspots – both in the company itself, and in its competitors. Taking advantage of competitor blindspots is a major way that a company can beat its competitors, so it is crucial to understand one’s own blindspots so as to protect oneself from possible attack.
Business problems can be shown through humour. Humour allows businesses to take a step back and see a problem applied to a situation that appears different to their own. One can also sometimes see similar behaviour in one’s own organisation – thus highlighting a possible blindspot. Humour is just one technique for showing blindspots. Others include the use of drama workshops and story-telling, or war-gaming where the business environment is modelled and management try and take an external look at themselves and their competitive situation.
The following “stories” and office “theories” are taken from our humour database – with a random selection shown. Refresh the page for further examples.
A woman walked up to the manager of a department store and asked. Are you hiring any help?
The manager answered: No - We already have all the staff we need!
The woman responded: Good - then would you mind getting someone to serve me?
How is your customer service?
Are you risking sales and customer dissatisfaction because the staff you have do not focus sufficiently on your customers?
It's easy to recognise the department store or shoe shop with sales agents busy talking to each other about what they were doing the night before, rather than helping us make a purchase. The same applies to non-retail businesses. Rather than hire new staff, make sure that the staff you have focus on the customers you need.
The lesson is to think about how you view your customers?
Do you see them as simply profit-streams, or customer reference numbers or do you genuinely care about them. If the former, how do you ensure that your customers stay happy with your services, when you don't recognise their individuality and humanity?
Think how you would feel if you were treated like a number, especially if you could switch to a competitor who made you feel special! As Stanley Marcus, who ran the department store Nieman Marcus for many years as President & Chair, once said Consumers are statistics. Customers are people.
Businesses (and people) over time develop habits and patterns of working. Sometimes these lead to success. However often they stop management from seeing reality – especially when the business environment changes. Competitive intelligence can identify these business blindspots – both in the company itself, and in its competitors. Taking advantage of competitor blindspots is a major way that a company can beat its competitors, so it is crucial to understand one’s own blindspots so as to protect oneself from possible attack.
Business problems can be shown through humour. Humour allows businesses to take a step back and see a problem applied to a situation that appears different to their own. One can also sometimes see similar behaviour in one’s own organisation – thus highlighting a possible blindspot. Humour is just one technique for showing blindspots. Others include the use of drama workshops and story-telling, or war-gaming where the business environment is modelled and management try and take an external look at themselves and their competitive situation.
The following “stories” and office “theories” are taken from our humour database – with a random selection shown. Refresh the page for further examples.
Before offering somebody a new job it's always worth seeking recommendations from previous employers. The problem is that writing something derogatory could mean you get sued if the candidate finds out (and they may - or can ask to see references under data protection rules) - unless of course you can fully justify the comments. To get around this, there are ways to say something positive about somebody which can also be read as negative. It's up to the new employer to interpret - but many recognise the codes.
| What they say
|
What they really mean
|
|---|---|
| In my opinion, you will be very fortunate to get this person to work for you. | This person is extremely lazy and never does any proper work. |
| I most enthusiastically recommend this candidate with no qualifications whatsoever. | This person is totally inept and probably has lied about their qualifications as we saw no evidence they had actually achieved what they claimed. |
| I am pleased to say this candidate is a former colleague / employee of mine. | I'm glad the candidate is "former" as we really didn't get along and I was glad when they left. |
| I can assure that no person would be better for the job. | Do you really plan on employing this person? Leaving the position vacant would be a better option. |
| I would urge you to waste no time in making this candidate an offer of employment. | Do NOT consider this candidate. Doing so is a complete waste of time. |
| All in all, I cannot say enough good things about this candidate or recommend him/her too highly. | I'm finding it really hard to find good things about this candidate. |
