competitive-analysis

What this skill does

# Competitive Analysis

## Scope

**Covers**
- Mapping **competitive alternatives** (status quo, workarounds, analog/non-consumption, direct + indirect competitors)
- Building a competitor landscape grounded in **customer decision criteria**
- Turning analysis into **actionable artifacts**: positioning hypotheses, win themes, battlecards, and a monitoring plan

**When to use**
- “Do a competitive analysis / competitor landscape for our product.”
- “Why are we losing deals to <competitor>?”
- “What are the real alternatives if we didn’t exist?”
- “Help us differentiate and position vs competitors.”
- “Create sales battlecards and win/loss takeaways.”

**When NOT to use**
- You need market sizing / TAM/SAM/SOM as the primary output (different workflow)
- You don’t know the target customer, core use case, or the decision this analysis should support
- You only need a quick list of competitors (no synthesis, no artifacts)
- You’re seeking confidential or non-public competitor information (do not attempt)

## Inputs

**Minimum required**
- Product + target customer segment + core use case (what job is being done)
- The decision to support (e.g., positioning, sales enablement, roadmap bets, pricing, market entry)
- 3–10 known competitors/alternatives (or “unknown—please map them”)
- Any available evidence (links, win/loss notes, call transcripts, customer quotes, pricing pages, reviews)
- Constraints: geography, ICP, price band, compliance/regulation (if relevant), time box

**Missing-info strategy**
- Ask up to 5 questions from [references/INTAKE.md](references/INTAKE.md).
- If answers aren’t available, proceed with explicit assumptions and label unknowns. Provide 2–3 plausible alternative scopes (narrow vs broad).

## Outputs (deliverables)

Produce a **Competitive Analysis Pack** in Markdown (in-chat; or as files if requested):

1) **Context snapshot** (decision, ICP, use case, constraints, time box)
2) **Competitive alternatives map** (direct/indirect/status quo/workarounds/analog)
3) **Competitor landscape table** (top 5–10) with evidence links + confidence
4) **Customer decision criteria** + comparison matrix (customer POV)
5) **Differentiation & positioning hypotheses** (why win, why lose, proof points)
6) **Win themes + loss risks** (objections, landmines, traps)
7) **Battlecards** (3–5 priority competitors)
8) **Monitoring plan** (signals, cadence, owners, update triggers)
9) **Risks / Open questions / Next steps** (always included)

Templates: [references/TEMPLATES.md](references/TEMPLATES.md)

## Workflow (8 steps)

### 1) Intake + decision framing
- **Inputs:** User context; [references/INTAKE.md](references/INTAKE.md).
- **Actions:** Confirm the decision, ICP, use case, geography, and time box. Define what “good” looks like (who will use this and for what).
- **Outputs:** Context snapshot.
- **Checks:** A stakeholder can answer: “What decision will this analysis change?”

### 2) Map competitive alternatives (not just logos)
- **Inputs:** Use case + customer job.
- **Actions:** List what customers do *instead*: status quo, internal build, manual workaround, analog tools, agencies/outsourcing, and direct/indirect competitors. Identify the “true competitor” for the deal.
- **Outputs:** Competitive alternatives map + short notes per alternative.
- **Checks:** At least 1–2 non-obvious alternatives appear (workarounds / analog / non-consumption).

### 3) Select the focus set + collect evidence (time-boxed)
- **Inputs:** Alternatives map; available sources.
- **Actions:** Pick 5–10 focus alternatives (by frequency/impact). Gather publicly available facts (positioning, features, pricing, distribution, target ICP) and internal learnings (win/loss, sales notes). Track confidence and unknowns.
- **Outputs:** Evidence log + initial landscape table.
- **Checks:** Each competitor row has at least 2 evidence points (link/quote/data) or is explicitly labeled “low confidence”.

### 4) Build the comparison from the customer’s perspective
- **Inputs:** Focus set + evidence.
- **Actions:** Define 6–10 customer decision criteria (JTBD outcomes, constraints, trust, time-to-value, switching cost, price, ecosystem fit). Compare alternatives on criteria and surface “why they win”.
- **Outputs:** Decision criteria list + comparison matrix.
- **Checks:** Criteria are framed as customer outcomes/risks (not internal feature checklists).

### 5) Derive differentiation + positioning hypotheses
- **Inputs:** Matrix + wins/losses.
- **Actions:** Write 2–3 positioning hypotheses: (a) who we’re for, (b) the value we deliver, (c) why we’re different vs the true alternative, (d) proof points, (e) tradeoffs/non-goals.
- **Outputs:** Differentiation & positioning section.
- **Checks:** Each hypothesis names the competitive alternative it’s positioning against.

### 6) Translate into win themes + battlecards
- **Inputs:** Positioning hypotheses + competitor notes.
- **Actions:** Create 3–5 win themes and 3–5 loss risks. Produce battlecards for priority competitors (how to win, landmines, objection handling, traps to avoid).
- **Outputs:** Win/loss section + battlecards.
- **Checks:** Battlecards contain do/don’t talk tracks and are usable in a live sales call.

### 7) Recommend actions (product, messaging, GTM)
- **Inputs:** Findings.
- **Actions:** Propose 5–10 actions: product bets, messaging changes, pricing/packaging, distribution, partnerships, and “stop doing” items. Tie each action to a win theme or loss risk.
- **Outputs:** Recommendations list with rationale and owners (if known).
- **Checks:** Each recommendation is specific enough to execute next week/month.

### 8) Monitoring + quality gate + finalize
- **Inputs:** Draft pack.
- **Actions:** Define monitoring signals, cadence, and update triggers. Run [references/CHECKLISTS.md](references/CHECKLISTS.md) and score with [references/RUBRIC.md](references/RUBRIC.md). Add Risks/Open questions/Next steps.
- **Outputs:** Final Competitive Analysis Pack.
- **Checks:** Pack is shareable as-is; assumptions and confidence levels are explicit.

## Quality gate (required)
- Use [references/CHECKLISTS.md](references/CHECKLISTS.md) and [references/RUBRIC.md](references/RUBRIC.md).
- Always include: **Risks**, **Open questions**, **Next steps**.

## Examples

**Example 1 (B2B SaaS):** “We keep losing deals to Competitor X. Build a competitive alternatives map and a battlecard for X.”  
Expected: alternatives map (incl. status quo), decision criteria, X battlecard, win themes/loss risks, and a monitoring plan.

**Example 2 (Consumer subscription):** “We’re repositioning for a new segment. Analyze alternatives and propose 2 positioning hypotheses.”  
Expected: comparison matrix by customer criteria and two clear positioning options with proof points and tradeoffs.

**Boundary example:** “List every competitor in our industry worldwide.”  
Response: narrow scope (ICP, geography, category) and propose a focused set + monitoring plan; otherwise output becomes a low-signal directory of logos.