Winning strategies to beat your competition
Published: December 6, 2005
Winning accounts and gaining customers is a natural part of running an organization, but, without the proper tools, it is sometimes difficult to know how you compare with your competitors. Keeping track of your competition’s products, sales literature, and marketing methods can help you get ahead in the market. Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 has customizable entities and the Competitor Win Loss report, so you can create a catalog of competitor products and sales literature that offers your organization insight into the competitor’s world of marketing and sales. This insight can help your organization develop winning strategies.
In the Products area of Microsoft CRM 3.0, you can enter products and sales literature that you have in common with the competition. This data can show what the competition is selling, for how much, and potentially, how often. While these pieces of information are extremely valuable, knowing what the competition has that you don’t is also important. Creating custom views and catalogs will show you what the competition is doing and how it is affecting your organization in terms of sales, marketing, and ultimately, making money.
You can run the Competitor Win Loss report in either the Reports area of Microsoft CRM 3.0 or in the Sales area under Competitors. You can filter the report before you run it, so that you receive only the data that you need. When using the filter you can choose to view only one item, such as competitors or opportunities, or you can choose many different areas to filter on.
Because this report uses so many different areas of information, we recommend that as you create your competitors in Microsoft CRM, you enter all possible details. Later when you run the report, you will have all the necessary information to accurately evaluate in what areas your organization is losing to the competition and where it is winning. For example, the sales team and sales managers in your organization can use this report to discover which competitors are giving the most challenges.
Customize a competitor view
1. | In the Navigation Pane, click Settings, click Customization, and then click Customize Entities. |
2. | In the list of customizable entities, click Products. |
3. | Under Details, click Forms and Views. |
4. | Click New, and in the dialog box that opens, enter the name for the view that you are creating, for example, Competitor Products. |
5. | Enter information that describes the view that you are creating and click OK. Click Save and Close in the View box, and then click Save and Close in the Entity box. |
You can use this custom view when you are in the Products area of Microsoft CRM 3.0 to find competitor products that your organization doesn’t carry.
Customize a competitor product catalog
After you have created a customized view of competitor products, you can begin the process of building a competitor product catalog.
1. | In the Navigation Pane, click Settings, click Product Catalog, and then click Products. |
2. | In the View box, select the customized competitor view that you previously created. |
3. | Click New to enter a new product into the catalog. |
You can use this customized product catalog to stay informed about the competition and the products that they are offering.
Customize competitor sales literature
1. | In the Navigation Pane, click Settings, click Customization, and then click Customize Entities. |
2. | In the list of customizable entities, click Sales Literature. |
3. | Under Details, click Forms and Views. |
4. | Click New, and in the dialog box that opens, enter the name for the view that you are creating, for example, Competitor Sales Literature. |
5. | Enter information that describes the view that you are creating and click OK. |
6. | Click Save and Close in the View box, and then click Save and Close in the Entity box. |
You can use this custom view when you are in the Sales Literature area of Microsoft CRM 3.0 to find competitor sales literature.
With these three customizable entities, your organization can broaden its awareness of the competition as well as develop new strategies in sales, marketing, and inventory.
