There are certain things that you might be interested in while you are doing competitive research, that will help you in differentiating your product from your competitors, which would ultimately translate into higher sales. I have listed certain points which would allow you to structure your approach when you do Competitive research :
1. Strategy Mapping : Its important for you to understand your competitors strategy, as this would help you in devising your own and also help you in building upon some of the points that your main competitor has missed.
2. Offering Differentiation : Identifying the points on which your product differs from your competitor is a key component as it would allow you to understand your weakness & strengths, this can be effectively utilized when creating an RFP as this shows you understand your competition.
3. Pricing Advantages : Probably a very crucial ingredient as pricing is a key decision component in most of the deals. Showing the pricing comparison in a tabled format is the standard practice.
4. Barriers of Entry : This is usually got to do with various political/regional reasons, Usually these sorts of constraints are rare, but I have encountered some of them in the deals that I have worked on.
5. Financial Stability : This is one of the not so important component but in some cases can be a deciding factor as potential clients prefer a vendor which is always financially stable, rather than a vendor that is overly dependent upon one client.
6. Filling the whole need of the client : Understanding your competitors satisfaction rate is important as this would allow you to pitch in your services in a better manner.
7. Market share & focus on new Markets : This is like a sub component of the 1st point and helps you understand your competitor better in terms of understanding your competitors diverse portfolio & expertise in delivering.
