Keeping Clients Happy, Teams SaneIf you run an internal competitive intelligence (CI) function or lead any professional services firm, you’ve probably felt the constant tug-of-war between keeping stakeholders thrilled and keeping your team intact. Your “clients” might be internal business units demanding fresh insights at lightning speed. In professional services, they’re external clients expecting you to deliver strategic brilliance…
The CI Engine Under the Strategic Hood: How Smart Companies Are Embedding Competitive Intelligence into Portfolio PlanningI’ve always believed that running a business is like driving a high-performance race car. The executives are at the wheel, making split-second decisions at high speed. Marketing, sales, and operations are the wheels and suspension, keeping the vehicle moving and grounded. And then there’s competitive intelligence (CI). It’s not the paint job or the spoiler.…
A Room of Leaders Who Do The WorkI recently attended a massive industry event in a huge venue with over 1,000 people, over 50 vendors, and enough buzzwords flying around to short-circuit a thesaurus. By the end of Day 1, I left with swag but not much substance. Turns out, what I wanted was a closed-door, no-fluff, real-talk room. A space where…
How We Flipped the Script on a Quiet Competitive ThreatThey say breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Just thinking about it makes me want bacon, eggs, hashbrowns, and wheat toast! For one company I know, it also turned out to be the most competitive. Let me take you back several years to one of my favorite competitive intelligence missions. Imagine this…
How I Approach Pricing Assessments: Lessons from the TrenchesPricing assessments have become one of the most frequent requests I get in the competitive intelligence space, and for good reasons. These projects aren’t like the usual qualitative intel-gathering exercises. They’re deep, data-driven, and if done right, can directly influence revenue, profitability, and product strategy. With strategic planning season in full swing, I wanted to…
How I Run a High-Impact Voice of Customer (VOC) Study (and What You Should Know Before You Start)Over the years, I’ve seen Voice of Customer (VOC) perception studies evolve from “nice-to-haves” into must-have tools, especially for competitive intelligence teams. Yes, we all want to know what our competitors are doing. But here’s the truth: what customers think you’re doing and what they think about you can be even more powerful. Our clients…
- Why Every CI Pro Needs a Can of Bear Spray
Over the years, my travels have taken me to some incredible places — I’ve sweated through rooftop meetings in Singapore’s humid heat and stood in awe inside the towering pyramids of Egypt. But despite all my international mileage, there are still some iconic U.S. destinations I haven’t explored. That’s about to change. My wife Jennifer…
Are You Asking the Right Questions? The Art of Crafting Powerful VoC SurveysWhen I first started working with Voice of the Customer (VoC) programs, I was captivated by the promise of uncovering deep customer insights. Like many, I believed sending a well-designed survey was half the battle. The other half? Simply waiting for the data to roll in and tell us what to do. Over time, I…
Next-Gen Immuno-Oncology: Why Competitive Intelligence Is More Critical Than EverI still remember when immuno-oncology first started making waves. The buzz around checkpoint inhibitors was electric—PD-1, PD-L1, CTLA-4—suddenly, we were talking about cancer therapies that could unlock the immune system instead of just targeting the tumor. Fast forward a decade, and the I-O space is no longer the Wild West; it’s a global arena packed…
Need Confidence in Your Next Strategic Move?
When critical decisions carry meaningful business implications, our team helps leaders move forward with greater clarity and confidence.
