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Our client, a leading multi-million dollar manufacturer, approached us after again losing a 12 million dollar tender to one of its main competitors, who had been consuming a big chunk of the market and winning over some of their oldest and biggest clients.
We were tasked with looking into the client’s main competitor and extracting any useful information that can be used to regain a competitive advantage.
We began by conducting extensive research into the competitor, using open source intelligence, in order to determine the right approach to extract such information.
We mapped out and studied the competitor’s current as well as past executives and management, key team players who were recently let go and also looked into any legal cases against the company that could perhaps generate leads.
We were looking for an individual that has access to the information we needed, a motive to provide us with the information and we had to ensure they are a reliable source.
Amongst the list of potential leads that we flagged, stood out one person in particular – the former VP of Marketing. He ticked all the right boxes – he was recently let go due to conflict with the management; had motive to cooperate with us since he was no longer concerned about the consequences of sharing information; was likely to be less cautious with his word choice and would feel more comfortable discussing his former employer freely and obtains the knowledge and access to information we can potentially use.
Our research taught us that he was job hunting. Therefore, we approached him under cover with an attractive business opportunity, which he found very interesting.
Following some phone correspondence conducted by our experienced undercover agents, a live meeting was scheduled. During this meeting, we casually yet strategically inserted key questions about the subject’s former employer – the competing company, and managed to gain valuable insight into the competition and thus extracted plenty of useful information for our client.
Such useful information included new products and technologies in development, marketing and price strategies and even insight into the company’s politics and weaknesses.
Using the information we gathered, our client has reconfigured his strategies. With the help of a positive media campaign, in simply a couple of months, he managed to take the lead in the competition once again.
Lesson Learned
Competitive intelligence is a powerful tool for better knowing and understanding your competitors which can help you eventually overcome the competition in a legal and smart way, win more clients and grow your income and profit.
Don’t wait until you fall behind to act. Our competitive intelligence capabilities and approaches can provide important insights about your competitors, which you can use to your advantage, in order to propel your interests forward.
Want to learn about our competitive intelligence services? Check out our CI Services (in Hebrew) or contact us for more details.
Concerned your employees or former employees might reveal your company’s secrets to your competitors? Check out our Counter CI Services or contact us for more details.
