Collection Phase in Competitive Intelligence

How to Gather Competitive Intelligence

1. Use your sales force. Your sales reps can be a very good source for information on products improvement, marketing strategies as well as in finding new products which might be needed in the market. They have many interactions with the customers.
2. Use your channel partners, distributors.
3. Use your network, including competitors.
4. Use external help, like a market research firm or companies like Nielson and IMRB.
5. Use the internet, like Twitter, Facebook and also perhaps special social media monitoring software or agencies that map various social media platforms for their clients.
6. Use a customer focus group or customer advisory panel.