Competitive Benchmarking
Taking an in-depth look at your competitors is an effective way to determine the ways your business excels, identify areas for improvement, and sheds light on opportunities that might otherwise go unnoticed.
Overview
For most small and mid-sized manufacturers (SMMs), the day-to-day struggle to develop and ship products that stand apart in the marketplace can be all-consuming. What’s more, in many cases, a production-centric mindset results in a focus on the specs, materials, and other attributes that are vital to product quality. These are necessary focal points, to be sure, but they can leave little time for analysis of others in the same production space who may have something to teach you. When the time comes to assess competitors, companies struggle to get started; is it better to study aspirational rivals or those who pose a direct challenge? What are the most important data points? What can be learned without direct outreach? DVIRC’s Competitive Benchmarking service enables you to keep running your business while DVIRC gathers and analyzes the relevant data—competitors’ reach and capabilities, areas of expertise, industry focus, and unique attributes that may set them apart.
The DVIRC Difference
DVIRC’s Competitive Benchmarking service is an ideal, efficient way to determine your true competitive landscape. With a specific focus on manufacturing- and decades of experience helping countless SMMs better understand their competitors, the ways they present themselves in the marketplace, and how to leverage that knowledge, DVIRC brings a unique perspective to and awareness of the factors that go into manufacturing success and overall competitive awareness. Starting with a discovery conversation that gathers a list of the competitors you face regularly (or may encounter given growth or expansion into a new industry or geography), and continuing with a template of the critical performance factors—company size, industry focus, facilities/capabilities, geographic reach, certifications, or other attributes—we deliver a clear, easy-to-understand picture of the world “out there.”
Features of a Competitive Benchmarking
- We perform all necessary analysis to distill competitors’ online presence, value proposition, and relevant public information related to M&A activity, facility expansion, or other indicators of market position
- DVIRC’s analysts deliver a clear snapshot of the market at-large, synthesizing a range of data sources to help you understand what your competitors do well, their shortcomings, key industries/products, distribution channels, unique capabilities or certifications, messaging, and more
- Where needed, DVIRC researchers can reach out directly to competitors’ end users as a neutral third-party to gain added insight
Typical Components of a Voice of Customer Analysis
While DVIRC customizes every program to meet the needs of each customer, most competitive assessments include:
- Kickoff meeting to refine our own understanding of your business and establish program goals
- Collaborative discussion to identify your key competitors, outline the characteristics we might apply to identify as-yet unknown others, and confirm the key competitive factors to research
- Development of a research format to guide data collection
- Research primarily entails secondary reviews of competitor websites, third-party web presence assessments, social media and news posts, and analysis of DVIRC findings
- Presentation of competitive assessment, including actionable recommendations and next steps
Benefits
- Because DVIRC works exclusively with manufacturers, our subject matter experts—most of whom come from the manufacturing sector themselves—understand the challenges you face and the how your competitors can illuminate a path toward growth
- The ability to refine your value proposition in light of rivals’ own messaging; use that knowledge to counter their claims and emphasize your brand identity
- Identify industries, geographic areas, and potential distribution channels for consideration in strategic planning discussions—an outstanding opportunity to diversify product offerings to grow market share
- Gain better understanding of any gaps between products or capabilities that may present imminent threats to market share
- Spot emerging market and product trends in order to enable planning in response