CRM: Tracking Competitors

A client wanted to know: What is the best way to keep track of my competition?

Keeping an eye on your competitors is often something that is overlooked by the sales team. You can use MSCRM to easily track your competitors as you work on opportunities.

First, take some time to setup your competitors. Add everything you know about them so that anyone that reviews the competition report can see what they are up aaainst.

To set up your competitors:

* Select Sales > Competitors > New
* Enter Competitor > enter Analysis data
* Save and close

Now, when you enter an opportunity you can select the competitor(s) that is also working on this customer. This will allow you to track their activity and eventually you will build up a history of deals won and lost against a competitor and the reasons why.

To track the competition:
* Select > Opportunities > Edit an opportunity
* Select Sales > Competitors > Add an Existing Competitor
* Save and Close

The last step is to create an Advanced Find on Opportunity and add the Competitor column to the grid. Open this during the sale cycle to track competitors and add/remove them as the situation dictates.