How to Identify Your Competition’s Vulnerable Accounts…

Have you done a competitive analysis to see how your competition is adapting to current market conditions? Probably not. Only about 4% of companies actually break down their competition on a regular basis to identify weaknesses and vulnerable accounts.

Interestingly enough, the 80/20 rule applies here as well- 20% of your competitor’s accounts are solid. They trust each other, they are loyal, and contracting officers help them navigate the system – they are not going anywhere. But what about the other 80%? At any given time, 80% of their clients are at risk for some reason or another- and you can identify them.

Using isiFederal’s Contact and Competition Intelligence, you can know who is buying from your competition, how much they win, and how they win. For instance, if you are in the Armored Car business, and want some business with IRS, you will be up against nationwide Loomis who won ALL of the IRS contracts since January 2009. But Triple Canopy, a company not known for Armored Car services swooped in and took a $5.6M contract with the Army- an agency where Loomis had won 62 contracts over the past 9 years.

While we don't think Fed Biz Ops is the place for finding winnable opportunities, we like the information that is available if you are tracking the bids through reward. The information is there four competition, you just need some help finding it and interpreting what the data means. Accounts that are consistently being won by a competitor are solid top 20% accounts and will require a lot of time and effort to become first choice for second place. The other 80% however, are much easier targets and will – at some point – be willing to at least entertain another option. The approach is critical to your success. Look to isiFederal to help with your introductions into accounts where you don’t have any traction.