Personally, I try to have a conversation and then ask for it summarized in an email. Simply because walking through the office will leave me with 10 action items and I am not going to keep this in my mind.
- See the strengths and weaknesses of available products in the market, so that I can see where I can create something with a competitive edge.
- To see competitors’ reviews and chatter. Those tell me where customers are feeling that their needs are underserved or poorly met.
- For inspiration on creative ways to solve some of the problems that my customers are facing.
- To see what positioning, language, and targeting is resonating with potential future customers, and view how that changes as customer needs evolve and technology improves.
- For an understanding of existing flows, language, and behaviors expected in my market. (Some things don’t need “reinvention”, like filling out an invoice).
- Before entering a new space, I look at competitors to map out the “blue ocean” of where my product(s) can drive value.
- So that I can guide sales and marketing to show the value of our product and how it excels over other companies.
- To see macro trends in the market when they start happening, as opposed to being surprised.
For the first version, we are tracking very much the details of the site itself. Tracking new postings, changes in features and even some of the topic changes in content marketing gives a very good indication of the directions companies are moving.
While it relies on you to enter your competitors, for now, that is something that can change as we can cross-reference language and new startup listings on different directories.