Thousands of companies around the world have been in existence for many years. They are always productive and are on the lookout for new contracts. They grow every year and manage to stay in the race, despite the pace imposed by the existence of numerous direct and indirect competitors. How do these companies achieve continuous commercial development? Is competitive intelligence one of the keys to their success, one of the reasons for their longevity in the business world?
What is business development?
A commercial development is the result of the strategies applied and some actions carried out to make a company evolve. It is the fructification and the obtaining of the best possible results on its investments, with the aim of increasing the turnover. A bad commercial development will therefore obviously have an impact on the health of the company, and can therefore ruin its existence. Still with the aim of increasing its turnover, many competing companies may fight for the acquisition of a contract for the provision of this or that service during a call for tenders, hence the importance of monitoring public procurement, for example. Having any particularity, being the only one able to provide one or more services is a great advantage over the many other companies present on the market, one of the reasons to carry out a good competitive intelligence.
What is competitive intelligence?
Competitive intelligence is simply a strategy practiced by a company to keep an eye on the approaches and products of competing companies. Its aim is to differentiate itself from its competitors by analysing what they are doing, and thus anticipate its future actions. It consists, for example, in monitoring their commercial actions or their new services and/or products, analysing their data accessible to the public, or their achievements in terms of communication such as advertising, media used... This monitoring is therefore of paramount importance for a good commercial development.
Why is competitive intelligence essential for commercial development?
Succeeding in developing one's business will depend on the reaction and actions adopted in the face of the steps taken by one's competitors. It is essential to analyse the behaviour of the competition in order not to be completely overtaken by events, and to be able to adapt its offers to the demands of the market. It is also necessary to succeed in collecting information on other companies, and knowing how to exploit it will allow to know one's adversaries and to distinguish oneself from them. The market research carried out before and at the time of the creation of the company must continue, because the offers available on the market also evolve. The evolution of the market requires an adaptation on the services and products offered to the customers, and the competing companies being able to launch a commercial attack at any time, not being in possession of the necessary data at the right time is a great threat for its own commercial development. Prospecting new customers, succeeding in keeping current customers by practicing different methods of business loyalty, having competitive offers and being able to stay in the race is a great battle to be fought every day, and whose success will depend entirely on the quality of the information acquired, and on the way it is used, hence the immense value of competitive intelligence. Often, a sponsor issues a call for tenders in order to choose the company to which it will entrust one or more of its contracts, and the company that manages to stand out will surely succeed in obtaining the contract to ensure its sustainability. Knowing how to look out for opportunities, for example by monitoring public contracts, can be useful for its commercial development.
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