Study Your Competition? A Fresh Perspective for Middle-Market Executives

As middle-market executives gear up for strategic planning season, many will dive deep into internal metrics, new initiatives, and performance targets. Yet, in this rush to solidify future plans, a critical element is often overlooked: the competition. The traditional mindset surrounding competitor analysis tends to be reactive or superficial, with many companies either dismissing their competition or merely copying trends. However, truly understanding the competitive landscape should go beyond “keeping up with the Joneses.” It should be a deliberate, strategic effort that is always focused on one thing: delivering superior value to your customers.

This post will guide you through a modern approach to studying your competition—one that is centered not on outpacing rivals but on using competitive insights to create better, more meaningful experiences for your customers.

Internal Obsession Can Be Risky

When it comes to strategic planning, many middle-market companies fall into the trap of internal obsession. This is particularly common in growing firms where the focus is on operational efficiency, scaling teams, and fine-tuning products or services. While these are crucial, this inward gaze often comes at the expense of understanding the broader competitive and market landscape.

Focusing solely on internal processes may create blind spots. Your team may be tweaking processes that improve operational efficiency by 5% while completely ignoring the fact that a competitor has introduced a game-changing customer solution. In today’s hyper-competitive world, staying narrowly focused on your internal environment can result in missed opportunities, lost market share, and becoming out-of-touch with customer needs.

Competition Is About Value, Not Rivalry

Studying your competition isn’t about rivalry or simple one-upmanship. Many businesses mistakenly assume that the purpose of analyzing competitors is to either mimic their actions or find ways to directly outdo them in price, features, or services. This reactive approach leads to superficial strategies and misses the point entirely.

The purpose of studying your competition is to learn how you can better serve your customers. Customers don't care about your rivalry with competitors—they care about the value you bring to them. Competitive analysis, when done right, isn’t about beating others at their own game; it’s about crafting a game plan that focuses on the customer first and foremost. The true objective is to understand how your competitors may be serving customer needs better, where they fall short, and how you can innovate to bring more value to your audience.

The Importance of a Customer-Centric Competitive Scan

Instead of focusing solely on how you stack up against competitors, shift the focus to how well you and your competitors meet the needs of your shared customers. What matters most is not where you stand in relation to your competition, but how both of you measure up in the eyes of the people you serve. A customer-centric competitive scan allows you to view the market through your customers' eyes, helping you identify where real opportunities lie.

For instance, if a competitor is gaining market share, the goal isn’t to simply copy their tactics. Instead, ask yourself: What are they doing that’s resonating with customers? How can we learn from this to deliver even greater value? Maybe their product solves a pressing need, but the customer experience is lackluster. Maybe their marketing strategy is innovative, but the actual solution falls short. You’re not competing to be a "better" version of your competitor; you’re competing to be the best version of yourself for your customer base.

Shifting from Benchmarking to Out-Innovation

A traditional approach to competition is benchmarking, where companies measure their processes and performance metrics against those of others. While benchmarking can be useful, it can also be limiting. The biggest problem with benchmarking is that it’s inherently backward-looking. It’s about meeting the current standard instead of creating the next one.

Instead, focus on out-innovation, which means continuously improving your products, services, and experiences to create greater customer value, regardless of what the competition is doing. By staying in tune with your customers' evolving needs and behaviors, you can innovate in ways that competitors can’t easily replicate. Out-innovation requires you to anticipate future customer needs, which means continuously learning from the competitive landscape but not being bound by it.

A Blueprint for Customer-Centric Competitive Analysis

To make this actionable, here’s an updated blueprint for studying your competition with a customer-centric lens. The goal is not to merely observe what your competitors are doing, but to use those insights to improve the way you deliver value to your customers.

1. Redefine Who Your Competitors Are

Your competitors aren’t just companies offering similar products or services. A competitor could be any business—or even non-business entity—fighting for your customer’s attention, time, or money. For instance, if you run a middle-market B2B service company, your competitor might not just be another service provider—it could be an entirely different business model (such as a self-service tech platform or a subscription-based service).

Start by expanding your definition of competition. Ask yourself:

• Who else is vying for our customers’ time and attention?

• What alternatives do customers have, even if those alternatives are not direct competitors?

• Are there emerging players or trends that are reshaping customer expectations?

2. Understand the Value Competitors Provide

Once you've identified who your competitors are, the next step is to break down how they deliver value to their customers. Study their core value propositions, but more importantly, analyze how they serve specific customer segments. Are they solving customer pain points in unique ways? Are they offering something that customers find particularly valuable that you don’t?

Try to gather qualitative data by reading customer reviews, participating in forums, or even conducting informal interviews. Pay attention to customer sentiment—what they value, what they dislike, and what they expect. The goal is to uncover insights that reveal not just how the competition operates, but why customers are drawn to them.

3. Compare with Your Own Customer Value Proposition

After gathering insights about your competitors, compare them to your own value proposition. How does your business currently meet or exceed customer expectations? Where are you falling short?

Focus on the following areas:

• Experience: Are competitors offering a smoother, more seamless experience?

• Customization: Are they tailoring solutions more effectively to customer needs?

• Innovation: Have they introduced new features or services that customers love?

• Engagement: Do customers feel more connected to your competitors’ brands through community or communication strategies?

Understanding where you are positioned relative to competitors will help you identify gaps and opportunities for improvement.

4. Innovate Around Customer Value, Not Competition

Now that you have a clear understanding of the competitive landscape, it’s time to innovate. But remember: don’t innovate for innovation’s sake or merely to one-up the competition. Instead, focus on innovating around customer value. That means any changes or new initiatives you introduce should be laser-focused on delivering more value to your customers than any competitor can.

This could mean introducing new features or services, improving customer service, streamlining user experiences, or even building stronger customer communities. The goal is to meet needs in ways that are more meaningful than what’s currently available, not to simply follow trends.

5. Continuous Learning and Adaptation

Studying your competition is not a one-time effort. In today’s fast-moving business environment, staying ahead means continuously learning, testing, and adapting. Regularly revisit your competitor analysis to stay on top of industry shifts and changing customer preferences.

Set up systems for collecting competitive intelligence, whether through technology platforms, regular feedback from sales teams, or direct customer insights. But remember, the focus should always be on how those insights help you better serve your customers, not on chasing competitors’ shadows.

Tool: Customer-Centric Strategy Through Competitive Intelligence

To truly excel in today’s competitive environment, middle-market companies need to move away from traditional rivalry-focused approaches and adopt a customer-centric mindset when studying the competition. By using competitive analysis as a tool to improve customer value, you can position your business not just to survive, but to lead.

Remember, it’s not about beating competitors at their own game—it’s about understanding how you can deliver more value, solve more problems, and create better experiences for your customers than anyone else in the market. That’s the real secret to sustainable growth and success.

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Unlock the full potential of competitor analysis by using our Competitor Analysis Tool. Designed specifically for middle-market businesses, this tool empowers you to not only analyze your competitors but also to refocus your efforts on delivering unparalleled value to your customers. Through easy-to-follow steps, you’ll identify key competitive insights, spot innovation opportunities, and ensure your business is always aligned with the evolving needs of your market. Start using this tool today to craft a smarter strategy, differentiate your offerings, and drive sustained growth!

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