Competitors

This chapter describes how to use the Competitors screen to examine comparisons of your company and competitors, view comparative literature of your products and those of your competitors, and associate a competitor with an opportunity. It includes the following topics:

Scenario for Managing Competitors

This topic gives one example of how competitor management might be used. You might use competitor management differently, depending on your business model.

A sales representative logs into the Siebel Sales application and discovers a newly qualified opportunity. He navigates to the Competitors view to review the competition for the opportunity. One competitor is listed for the deal. The sales representative is not familiar with the company and drills down on the Name field for the competitor to learn more.

In the Company Comparisons view, the representative can view a side-by-side comparison of his company and the competitor’s company as well as a comparison of products. He can access competitive intelligence documents compiled by his company about this competitor, and the literature items that the competitor has published.

A colleague in Telesales calls the sales representative and indicates that there is a new competitor trying to win the deal. The sales representative adds the new competitor to the opportunity to allow the sales team to research the new competition.

Associating a Competitor with an Opportunity

Associating a competitor with an opportunity notifies the sales team about the competition for the deal and provides the team with a link to the information it needs to deliver a consistent, winning sales strategy.

To associate a competitor with an opportunity

Navigate to the Opportunities screen, then the Opportunities List.
Drill down on the Opportunity Name field for the opportunity record to which you want to add a competitor.
Navigate to the Competitors view.

In the Competitors list, create a new record, and complete the necessary fields.

Some fields are described in the following table.

Field	Comments
Primary	Select this check box to indicate that the competitor is the primary rival for the deal.
Name	Select the competitor’s company name. You can drill down on this field to navigate to the Competitors screen to obtain more information about the competitor.
Threat	Select a value established by your company to specify the value of the competitor’s threat. Default values include 1-Low, 2-Medium, 3-High, 4-Very High.
Status	Select a value established by your company to specify the prospect’s interest level in the competitor’s offerings. Default values include Some Interest, Evaluation in Progress, Existing Relationship, and Not Satisfied.
Comments	Type additional information about the competitor.

Viewing Competitor Comparisons

In many sales situations it is necessary to discuss competitive information with a prospect. Using the Competitors screen, you can view comparisons about companies, products, and services, and also find literature to prepare for sales calls.

In competitive sales situations, it is imperative for the sales representative to have information about competitors to strengthen the sales strategy and differentiate the company's image and offerings.

To view competitor comparisons

Navigate to the Competitors screen, then the Competitor List view.
Drill down on the Competitor field of a competitor record.
Navigate to the Account Comparisons view.
The Company Comparison, Competitor’s Literature, and Comparative Literature lists appear.
In the Competitor’s Literature list, select the literature item you want to view, and then drill down on the Name field.
In the Comparative Literature list, select the literature item you want to view, and then drill down on the Name field.