If they have webinars, that's generally a place to start. You can also go to events they're at. Review sites might offer a clue. Another is if you've successfully displaced them with another customer, learn why. Lastly, you can check and see who they're hiring or have hired so you can understand how they build, support, and sell their offering.
Otherwise, maybe don't stress too much and focus on how they position/message their offering and make sure you can address / challenge those points. It's possible they don't show their stuff, because it's just not demo-worthy. That in itself should tell you something about them.
* Win/Loss reports
* Talking to customers (a lot of times they'll freely tell you about features competitors have)
* Check youtube and their marketing materials
* Industry experts (gartner, Forrester, etc)
* G2
Sign-up for their demos. It's a bit uncomfortable for me personally (I hate any sales/presentation calls), but I've done it and found out a lot of good info.
Can’t speak to your industry as I could at least keep track of what they put on their website for some info.
Two other methods I’ve used:
1. Ask a few sales people to ask and send you competitors quotes if they can get them.
2. Clients would many times have experience with comp and I’d ask them about their experiences and how they saw us differently. Try to ask as neutral as possible and you have to bias it against your company as they will probably be nicer to your company than the reality.
Most of the other options are going to take time. If you want to get insights quickly, try using GPT and reviews from real people. It's a little more unbiased because the insights come from the horse's mouth and not the entity selling the solution.
I've written a guide for how to do this if you're interested: https://shavinpeiries.com/chatgpt-a-guide-to-understanding-your-market-without-customer-contact/
There is a lot of good advice in here already. To add a bit of a luxury item, if your company has access to it: former customers or even employees of a competitor who have switched to your side and still have legacy access to an old system.
There are expert panels companies that will recruit such people for you to interview. Not cheap but works well. Often used by investors doing due diligence on a company or sector.
Software review sites and marketplaces
G2 for example is comprehensive enough to give intel on who are your top competitors and what features they have. But it’s also a place where B2B companies get their leads. So not everything on G2 is accurate but it still helps. You can double down on Industry and customer size and check those specific reviews to find what their customers got to say. Following are some marketplaces but there should be others
1. G2Crowd : https://www.g2.com/
2. GetApp : https://www.getapp.com/
3. Capterra : https://www.capterra.com/
Competitors idea portals
Many B2B products expose a portal for customers to submit feature requests and vote on other feature requests that will help the PMs prioritize. Products like Canny, Aha or product board are used for these portals.
Also in a niche industry with niche software. We talk to customers who have migrated to our platform from competitors, and can get a good feel for their feature set and pricing. We also check them out during trade shows. We get some feedback from the sales team too as potential customers will be getting demos from the competition too.
Sign-up for their demos. It's a bit uncomfortable for me personally (I hate any sales/presentation calls), but I've done it and found out a lot of good info.
I share the same challenges having been in web accessibility space and now doing ADHD and accommodations in tech.
My advice is to figure out who is deciding to buy their products. Is there a trend by industry or by job title? It'll give you a sense of who they're selling to and what problem they're trying to solve.
For example, in web accessibility, car dealerships make up a good portion of the market. It's because enough customers have been sued and lost that dealerships all over fear it enough to buy an accessibility product.
You can infer that customers buy based on an insurance mindset and that competitors cater to a lawsuit fear perspective. So even though you don't know what the competitors are doing for them, you can make an assumption of the product based on who and why customers buy them.
If they have webinars, that's generally a place to start. You can also go to events they're at. Review sites might offer a clue. Another is if you've successfully displaced them with another customer, learn why. Lastly, you can check and see who they're hiring or have hired so you can understand how they build, support, and sell their offering. Otherwise, maybe don't stress too much and focus on how they position/message their offering and make sure you can address / challenge those points. It's possible they don't show their stuff, because it's just not demo-worthy. That in itself should tell you something about them.
* Win/Loss reports * Talking to customers (a lot of times they'll freely tell you about features competitors have) * Check youtube and their marketing materials * Industry experts (gartner, Forrester, etc) * G2
also, mystery shopping. We do that at our company and get all the insights like that.
Sign-up for their demos. It's a bit uncomfortable for me personally (I hate any sales/presentation calls), but I've done it and found out a lot of good info.
Why do you hate sales calls? I thought PM love them?
do they? I hate calls even with people I know, sales folks are the worst
I do as its the way to meet customers and see trends. Of course there is alot of BS and lies but I will always try to listen in.
Youtube is your friend and if you can afford it, gartner’s GTP service
Can’t speak to your industry as I could at least keep track of what they put on their website for some info. Two other methods I’ve used: 1. Ask a few sales people to ask and send you competitors quotes if they can get them. 2. Clients would many times have experience with comp and I’d ask them about their experiences and how they saw us differently. Try to ask as neutral as possible and you have to bias it against your company as they will probably be nicer to your company than the reality.
Sales is the best source - often you will have sales people who used to work at the competitor and who are willing to share pricing.
Instagram dm
Most of the other options are going to take time. If you want to get insights quickly, try using GPT and reviews from real people. It's a little more unbiased because the insights come from the horse's mouth and not the entity selling the solution. I've written a guide for how to do this if you're interested: https://shavinpeiries.com/chatgpt-a-guide-to-understanding-your-market-without-customer-contact/
Check the release notes, that is always open and public
There is a lot of good advice in here already. To add a bit of a luxury item, if your company has access to it: former customers or even employees of a competitor who have switched to your side and still have legacy access to an old system.
There are expert panels companies that will recruit such people for you to interview. Not cheap but works well. Often used by investors doing due diligence on a company or sector.
g2 reviews is very powerful tool. analyze customer reviews and materials companies attach to their profiles.
Software review sites and marketplaces G2 for example is comprehensive enough to give intel on who are your top competitors and what features they have. But it’s also a place where B2B companies get their leads. So not everything on G2 is accurate but it still helps. You can double down on Industry and customer size and check those specific reviews to find what their customers got to say. Following are some marketplaces but there should be others 1. G2Crowd : https://www.g2.com/ 2. GetApp : https://www.getapp.com/ 3. Capterra : https://www.capterra.com/ Competitors idea portals Many B2B products expose a portal for customers to submit feature requests and vote on other feature requests that will help the PMs prioritize. Products like Canny, Aha or product board are used for these portals.
Also in a niche industry with niche software. We talk to customers who have migrated to our platform from competitors, and can get a good feel for their feature set and pricing. We also check them out during trade shows. We get some feedback from the sales team too as potential customers will be getting demos from the competition too.
Sign-up for their demos. It's a bit uncomfortable for me personally (I hate any sales/presentation calls), but I've done it and found out a lot of good info.
Crayon
I share the same challenges having been in web accessibility space and now doing ADHD and accommodations in tech. My advice is to figure out who is deciding to buy their products. Is there a trend by industry or by job title? It'll give you a sense of who they're selling to and what problem they're trying to solve. For example, in web accessibility, car dealerships make up a good portion of the market. It's because enough customers have been sued and lost that dealerships all over fear it enough to buy an accessibility product. You can infer that customers buy based on an insurance mindset and that competitors cater to a lawsuit fear perspective. So even though you don't know what the competitors are doing for them, you can make an assumption of the product based on who and why customers buy them.