Competitor analysis, a working process for B2B teams
Competitor analysis is the habit of collecting facts about the companies your buyers compare you with, and turning those facts into decisions about price, product, message and sales. Done well it takes a few hours a month. Done badly it produces a long document that nobody opens. This guide describes a process that small B2B teams can actually keep running.
What competitor analysis is for
The purpose of competitor analysis is to make better decisions, not to describe rivals. Every finding should end in one of four actions: change a price or package, change what you build, change what you say, or change what sales says in a deal. If a fact leads to none of those, leave it out.
That framing also tells you who needs the output. Product marketing needs positioning and feature facts. Sales needs a short card per rival. Leadership needs a monthly summary of moves that could change the plan.
Step one, choose the right rivals
Pick between three and ten companies and sort them into groups. Direct rivals sell the same thing to the same buyer. Indirect rivals solve the same problem differently, for example a spreadsheet, an agency or an internal tool. Aspirational rivals are larger companies whose moves you expect to follow.
Ask your sales team which names come up in lost deals. That list is usually better than any market map, because it reflects real buyer behavior.
Step two, decide what to collect
Collect a small set of facts and collect them the same way each time. A useful minimum is below.
- Positioning: homepage headline, tagline, the customer segment they name.
- Pricing: plan names, prices, billing period, limits, trial or demo wording.
- Product: feature lists, integrations, release notes with dates.
- Go to market: careers page roles, comparison pages that name you, new content themes.
Everything on this list is public. You do not need logins, leaked documents or clever tricks to do a strong analysis.
Step three, record a baseline
Copy the text of each page into a sheet or a notes tool and date it. A baseline matters more than it seems, because the most valuable fact in competitor analysis is a change, and a change only exists against something you saved. Teams that skip the baseline spend months saying that a rival "feels different lately".
With a tool such as competitor website analysis in RivalIsm, the baseline is stored for you at the first visit, and each later visit is compared with it.
Step four, compare in a matrix
A matrix puts your company and each rival in columns and the facts in rows. Keep it to twelve rows or fewer. Mark where you are clearly ahead, level or behind. The point is not to win every row. The point is to see which three rows decide deals in your market.
| Row | You | Rival A | Rival B |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entry price per month | Fill in | Fill in | Fill in |
| Free trial | Fill in | Fill in | Fill in |
| Key integration | Fill in | Fill in | Fill in |
| Target segment | Fill in | Fill in | Fill in |
Step five, turn findings into decisions
For each row where you are behind or where a rival just moved, write one sentence that starts with a verb. "Answer the Salesforce integration in the next quarter plan." "Lead sales calls with self serve setup." "Review our entry price against the new rival Starter plan." A finding without a sentence like this is only trivia.
Then split the output by audience. Sales gets a one page battlecard per rival. Marketing gets a note on messaging. Leadership gets three bullets and a link.
Step six, keep it current
This is the step that breaks most programs. Pages change quietly, the person who owned the sheet moves on, and six months later the cards describe a company that no longer exists. Set a rhythm and an owner. A weekly look at changes and a monthly update of the matrix is enough for most teams.
You can do the weekly look by hand with a calendar reminder and ten open tabs. You can also let software do the reading. RivalIsm checks the pages on a schedule, shows each difference as a before and after, and writes the weekly brief, so the owner spends the time on decisions. If you want to see how that looks, read about how RivalIsm works or try the scan on the home page.
Common mistakes
Tracking too many rivals
Ten rivals tracked well beat thirty tracked badly. Start small and add rivals only when a deal loss points to them.
Collecting features instead of reasons to buy
Buyers rarely choose on a feature count. They choose on the two or three things that matter for their job. Interview your own recent buyers and test which rows really mattered.
Writing for yourself
If the output needs a meeting to explain, it has failed. Aim for a card a rep can read in two minutes before a call.
Ignoring pricing changes
Price and packaging moves change how buyers compare you, and they are the moves your team hears about last. Use a routine for competitor price monitoring and read our guide to tracking competitor pricing changes.
A simple monthly rhythm
In week one, review the change feed and mark anything that affects a live deal. In week two, update the matrix and the cards. In week three, send leadership the three bullet summary. In week four, check which rival names appeared in lost deals and adjust your list. Most months this takes less than three hours once the collection is automatic.
Where to go next
If you are choosing tools, compare options in our overview of competitor research tools and the page on competitive intelligence software. If you want a first look at what a rival page contains, paste it into the scan on the competitor checker page.