# Competitive Intelligence — Research & Battlecard Generation

Research competitors and generate actionable competitive intelligence for sales positioning. Produces comparison matrices, talk tracks, and objection handling guides.

## When This Skill Activates

Trigger phrases: "competitive intel", "compare us to [competitor]", "battlecard for [competitor]", "how do we stack up against [competitor]", "competitor analysis", "research competitors"

## Research Process

### Step 1: Identify Competitors
- Use provided competitor names, or
- Search for companies in the same space based on our value proposition
- Categorize: direct competitors, indirect alternatives, status quo (do nothing)

### Step 2: Gather Intelligence Per Competitor

**Web Research (always available):**
1. Product features and capabilities
2. Pricing and packaging (public pricing pages, G2, Capterra)
3. Recent news — launches, funding, partnerships, executive changes
4. Customer reviews — G2, Capterra, TrustRadius, Reddit
5. Hiring signals — what roles they're hiring for (indicates roadmap)
6. Content strategy — blog themes, webinars, thought leadership

**Enhanced with connected tools:**
- **CRM (HubSpot/Pipedrive)**: Win/loss data, deal notes mentioning competitors
- **Slack**: Internal threads discussing competitive situations
- **Fireflies/Gong**: Call transcripts where competitors are mentioned
- **SimilarWeb/Ahrefs**: Traffic data, SEO overlap, keyword competition

### Step 3: Generate Battlecard Output

```markdown
## Competitive Battlecard: [Our Company] vs. [Competitor]

### Head-to-Head Comparison
| Capability | Us | [Competitor] | Advantage |
|-----------|-----|-------------|-----------|
| [Feature 1] | ✅ [detail] | ⚠️ [detail] | Us |
| [Feature 2] | ⚠️ [detail] | ✅ [detail] | Them |
| [Feature 3] | ✅ [detail] | ❌ [detail] | Us |
| Pricing | [range] | [range] | [who] |

### When We Win
- [Scenario 1]: [Why we're better positioned]
- [Scenario 2]: [What makes us the right choice]

### When They Win
- [Scenario 1]: [Their advantage and how to counter]
- [Scenario 2]: [Their strength — be honest]

### Talk Tracks

**If prospect says: "[Common objection about us]"**
> Acknowledge: [Validate their concern]
> Reframe: [Shift to our strength]
> Evidence: [Proof point or case study]

**If prospect says: "[Competitor's talking point]"**
> Acknowledge: [Fair point about competitor]
> Differentiate: [Where we diverge]
> Ask: [Discovery question that reveals our advantage]

### Landmine Questions
Questions to ask prospects that highlight our advantages:
1. "[Question that exposes competitor weakness]"
2. "[Question about a capability only we have]"
3. "[Question about scaling/support/compliance]"

### Recent Intelligence
- [Date]: [Competitor news and what it means]
- [Date]: [Market shift and implications]

### Objection Handling
| Objection | Response |
|-----------|----------|
| "[They're cheaper]" | [Value-based response] |
| "[They have feature X]" | [Our alternative/roadmap] |
| "[They're more established]" | [Our agility/innovation angle] |
```

## Integration with Lead Pipeline

- Cross-reference competitor mentions in lead research data
- Use competitive context when drafting outreach via `EmailComposer`
- Align battlecard positioning with `ComposerConfig.value_proposition`
- Store battlecards in `~/.lead_pipeline/data/battlecards/` for reuse

## Key Rules
- Be HONEST about competitor strengths — credibility matters more than spin
- ALWAYS cite sources — review sites, news articles, public pages
- Refresh monthly or before major deals
- Focus on capabilities that matter to the prospect, not feature lists
- Talk tracks should sound natural, not scripted
