How to write a competitor profile

In this article, we will endeavour to show you how to write a competitor profile, but first of all lets suggest what we think what is a competitor profile is?

What is a competitor profile?

A competitor profile is a summary document to give you a basic understanding of one of your competitors. It’s a baseline document which cam also written before a war game to help prepare the players to understand their role int he game better. So a competitor profile should contain a brief overview of the company, insights on their strategic direction, SWOT analysis, and the latest press releases.

How to write a competitor profile

You will be able to find a mountain of information about your competitor, but it is wise to understand what to include within your profile. Take a look at your needs and the market you are playing in. What information will be helpful, what’s needed to know and what would be nice to know? Here is a list of some of the information you may want to put in your competitor profile:

Contact information

• Brands
• Trade names
• legal name
• address
• phone number
• website

Structure

• How is the business structured? Limited Company, sole trader etc
• Is the company public or private?
• Who owns the competitor?
• What’s their mission statement, philosophies, vision and beliefs?

Nature of competition

• How much of a threat are they to you?
• Are they a direct or indirect competitor?
• How much of a threat are they to you?

Finances

• What can you find out about their finances?
• What are their assets?
• Their profits?
• Are there any trends and patterns in their current and past financial information?

Their brand

• What does their branding consist of?
• How do consumers identify with them?
• What are they saying to the market?
• What’s their tone of voice?

Product/Service

• Firstly, list their product/services.
• Then, what support do they give their product or service?
• And do they provide a quality service
• How do customers perceive their quality?
• Do they have satisfied customers?
• Why are they better than you?
• Also, why are you better than them?
• Finally, how loyal are their customers?

Product development

• What’s happening in the product development process?
• Are new products in the pipeline?
• Do they have a product team?
• What’s their product teams background?
• What patents and trademarks do they have?
• Can you develop something similar or better?

Customer service

• What can you find out about their customer service?
• How do customers perceive their customer service capabilities?

Resources

• What resources do they have and how powerful are they?
• Do they subcontract?
• What are their team like and what skills do they possess?
• Also, what qualifications would you need for a position in their company?
• What are they recruiting for?
• And what’s the background of their key players?
• Also, what types of equipment do they have available to them?

Sales

• So, what’s their revenue?
• Can you break their income down by product and market?
• How do they compare in the market?
• What’s their sales team like?
• How big is it?
• How do they sell?
• And how can you compete against them?

The market

• What’s their target market?
• What are their expansion plans?
• Also, what’s their market strategy?
• And their pricing strategy?
• Whom do they consider their direct competitors to be?
• What’s their perception of the market? How does it compare to your thoughts?
• Do you share the same customers?

Distribution

• How do they move their product?
• Where do they send their product? Nationally, locally, international?
• What’s their distribution channel?
• Who are their suppliers?

Decision makers

• Who the real decision-maker in the company?
• Is it an individual or a board?
• What skills do the decision-makers possess?
• What’s the decision-makers background?
• Are there plans to change or add to the management?

Finally

It’s a good idea to find as much information you can about your competitors. Try and compile a profile on each of your competitors and keep it updated. It will help you understand them more and also learn their strengths and weaknesses. Once you have a picture of your competitors will also offer you the opportunity to gain more industry-wide insights and trends. In this article, we endeavoured to show you how to write a competitor profile. We suggested looking their finances, products, sales teams, their market, distribution and the resources open to them.

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