COMPANY POSITIONING & COMPETITIVE AWARENESS PROCESS

“Marketing research is only one step…. ; the key step for you is the implementation. We aim to give you results you can use to position yourself for the future”

Leading edge companies remain profitable in the recession because they position themselves to reduce the effect of competition. Their market positioning is not accidental, it is the place where they maximise their strengths and minimise the effect of their weaknesses.

Good market positioning stems from a clear understanding of the market and customers' needs. Everyone sells a package which includes the product, the service associated with the product and the perception of the company that is selling it. An essential step to understanding your market and positioning is excellent Customer Satisfaction and Perception Analysis.

We offer leading edge processes:

Internal Interviews
Gauging the internal perceptions and identifying the issues. Building a model of the companies view of the competitive world and internal differences in perception


Customer Interviews
In depth discussions that get to the real issues of service and competitive understanding, including your companies differentiation


Gap analysis
Identifying gaps between what a company thinks it delivers and what the market wants, and the gaps within your company


Actionable results, not tables of statistics
Showing what you need to do to position yourself for the future. Our whole effort is aimed towards producing "actionable" results. The results provide our customers with strategic options.


Creative techniques
To get "beneath the skin" of the buying decision to comprehensively answer the questions "what makes your customer choose or reject you now", and “what will you need to do in the future to be the leader”.

THE COMPETITIVE AWARENESS PROCESS

“Know your enemy and know yourself; In a hundred battles you will never be in peril” “Probe him and learn where his strength is abundant and where deficient”
- Sun Tzu Chinese philosopher and general

“If we want to win against these !?*&%!? we've got to get our retaliation in first”
- Willie John McBride Captain British Lions

Both Sun Tzu and Willie John McBride realised that to succeed in their “business” they needed to understand the competition and use the knowledge to take strategic and tactical decisions. The “Competitive Awareness” process was designed to allow you to build on your in-house knowledge to create a unique, shared understanding of your competitive environment and the threats and opportunities it presents to you.

Building competitive understanding at the operational level
  Shunning “top down” initiatives

Identifying the key competitive interfaces
  Including functions such as R & D who often do not realise they are competing

Rapid production and validation of competitive positioning
  Using selective interviewing and workshops to create buy in and “ownership”

Spreading competitive understanding outwards from operational "nodes"
  Allowing data to move outwards, upwards and downwards to become the
  accepted company position

Interacting with the companies strategy
  Preventing competitive strategy being developed “in isolation”

Producing both tactical and strategic information
  Identifying key issues for the operational and management levels

The process can be used for selected business sectors, functions and/or selected technologies within a business. It puts competition where it should be; on everybody's agenda.