Every enterpreneur and manager would love to know everything about his competitor. Traditionally we go to fairs and collect information through the internet. But, we don't really know what we would like to know. There are two sources which do give the right and objective information: the competitor himself and the competitor's customer.
The competitor himself: the benchmark
STEM Industrial Marketing Centre has experience in creating a benchmark for your specific field of interest. By mutual agreement we'll make a questionaire. The participants are invited to fill in the questionaire, often with confidential information. We only mention the averages and the range of the aswers and an enumeration of the answers to the open question in their report. In this way every participant can compare his or her answers with the averages, without knowing the specific information of each individual participant. This will not be disclosed and will only be known by us. Because the participants share the costs, the price per participant will be relatively low considering the invaluable information they'll be getting.
Ask the customer
We conducts customerinterviews, in which we first examine the real valuedrivers of the customer. What makes a customer enthusiastic? Which drivers lead to a change in attitude? Then we'll ask the customer in a personal interview or through an internet survey to assess the various providers/suppliers on the basis of these factors. You'll immediately get an understanding of the real valuedrivers of your customer, the strengths and weaknesses of yourself and your competitors.
Experience
A survey for a large building company showed that various suppliers had the same capabilities to compete. The customers did indicate what they thought important and under which conditions they were prepared to leave their present supplier or accept a higher price. The building company used this unique information to strengthen their market position.