Question

Topic: Research/Metrics

Setting Up A Market Intelligence Function

Posted by itsmeoa07 on 11/27/2014 at 1:34 AM ET 250 Points
We are conducting an audit for the marketing department in a BIG specialized manpower supply company . We noted that there is no marketing intelligence function (MIF) in the department, they just rely on the manager to gather competitor's information (i.e. rates, manpower skills they have etc.) from the market through his sources.

We want to recommend them to formalize this process,specifically related to gathering of competitive intelligence ?

What should be the main components of such a MIF ? What all should we recommend considering currently it is a loss making co. but is highly demanded in its market because of the quality of its manpower ?
To continue reading this question and the solution, sign up ... it's free!
SUBSCRIBE
Or, SIGN IN

RESPONSES

  • Posted by saul.dobney on 11/27/2014 at 2:56 AM Accepted
    It depends on how deep you want to go. You might be able to get away with an external consultant producing a state-of-the-market report every 6 months. Alternatively you may want someone building up target contact lists and profiles, building files on competitor activity and recent market prices.

    Probably the simplest way to start is a one-off report from an external specialist. He/she would do say an audit of adverts for different types and grades of jobs, assimilate any published data, integrate internal sales/CRM data, interview/talk with internal staff about where they think the market is and where it is going and then pull this together into a report with sources that could then be updated periodically.

    Building up a full function would be to make this type of data collection/reporting more continuous and add in client profiling and opportunity identification, add more detailed competitor intelligence to identify potential threats/successful market strategies, legislative monitoring etc. The function then links all this data via reports, trends, news alerts, hot tips to staff so they keep on the ball.
  • Posted by Peter (henna gaijin) on 11/27/2014 at 11:40 AM Member
    Market Intelligence should be doing what the overall business needs, and you said that right now the business is loss making. So what can market intelligence do that helps bring the company to profitability? What market information are they not getting that if they got it now, they would be better able to be profitable? Answer these questions and you know what the group should be doing.

    I don't know the company/size/structure, so could be wrong, but my gut says that there is only certain pieces of info (like pay rates, competitive info, etc.) and not enough to have a person dedicated to doing this. As Saul said, it likely would be something you an hire out an outside expert to do.

    Actually, it may even be enough to keep going as is where the manager handles the information gathering him/herself.
  • Posted by mgoodman on 11/27/2014 at 12:27 PM Accepted
    It has been my experience in general -- not specific to your situation -- that companies spend too much time and effort (and money) trying to figure out what their competitors are doing. Those resources could be better spent listening to the needs of prospective customers and communicating the unique benefit they offer.

    If there is a specific question about competitive activity that would have a major impact on the company's strategy, get the answer to that question, of course. But for a company that is already losing money, I'm not so sure I'd be spending more money following competitors without a specific short-term goal.
  • Posted by koen.h.pauwels on 11/30/2014 at 5:05 AM Member
    I agree with Michael that companies are typically too focused on figuring out what competitors are doing instead of what their prospective customers want and how the company itself is well positioned to serve those needs. An over reliance on competitors may well be why the company has been loosing money. If it is indeed the case that their manpower is excellent, (1) do target customers understand this fully (see the benefits) and (2) has marketing removed the obstacles to buying its services (lower the perceived costs). Increasing the perceived benefits and reducing the perceived costs would be the key actions, based on good marketing intelligence
  • Posted by telemoxie on 12/1/2014 at 8:31 AM Accepted
    I personally don't think the differentiation is always appropriate. Some firms (McDonald's restaurants, website development companies, manpower agencies) are perceived as all the same. Space even if there are legitimate differences, this can be a difficult case to make.

    If I may tell a quick story: I was doing outbound marketing on a contract basis when websites began to first take off. I would get a steady stream of calls from website development companies. They would all begin by saying, "we are different than everybody else because..." and then they would tell me exactly the same story that I had heard from the last dozen of their competitors.

    Maybe there is something unique about this firm. I have done marketing myself for such firms. Space I have developed relations with hiring managers over time, and I have asked them which if any differentiations matter to them. The consistent answer: I would be open to talking to a new firm if they have a unique source of new talent.

    Back to my story: I started making calls for a web development company, saying something like this: "I'm calling to introduce such and such a company, we are one of those website development firms." Stops to load the vast majority of times, the person on the other end of the phone would start laughing. They had patiently listened to pitch after pitch from companies claiming to be different, but which were really all the same.

    Even if you have legitimate advantages, it is a waste of time to try to explain that to new contacts who simply do not believe you.

    My personal strategy in such situations was to differentiate by sales style.

    Certainly market intelligence is valuable in fields where prospects perceive that there are legitimate and important differences between vendors. And maybe that is something you could determine by a more formal survey. And it might be very helpful to determine which segments of the market your competitors are focused upon so that you could pursue other underserved demographics. But my immediate reaction is that in this industry, a major investment in competitive analysis would be a poor use of time and money.

    I've worked as a hired gun outbound marketing guy for a dozen or more headhunter firms over the years. If you would like to talk about this further (no charge) feel free to send me an e-mail. Good luck.
BACK TO TOP

Post a Comment

Related Discussions

Community Info

Top 25 Experts
(Research/Metrics)