Beating Your Competition: Why Competitive Tracking is a Game-Changer for Building Product Manufacturers

In Short:

• Track competitors to improve sales, spot trends, and find new opportunities.
• Act fast on market info to stay ahead and avoid mistakes.
• Use tools like ConstructConnect^® Insight to track your products, your competition, and grow your business.

Being good at business isn’t enough, you also need to be strategic.

One of the smartest strategies for building product manufacturers is competitive tracking. This means keeping an eye on what other businesses are doing and comparing your performance to theirs.

Competitive tracking is a specialty of Dale Draggoo, the Director of Strategic Accounts at ConstructConnect. He works with enterprise-level building product manufacturers.

In our latest "Interview with the Experts," we spoke with Draggoo about why competitive tracking should be a priority for every employee and why it’s important to act quickly on what it reveals. For him, tracking intelligence isn’t just smart, it’s essential.

Want to get your products in more construction projects?
Read Tips from an expert architect: 5 strategies manufacturers can start right now to get your products specified

Q: Why is competitive tracking important for building product manufacturers?

A: Competition tracking is critical to:

• The development, execution, and evaluation of sales,
• Marketing and product strategies,
• Identifying market trends,
• Benchmarking an organization's performance,
• Spotting opportunities and threats,
• Creating and enhancing customer value, and
• Avoiding costly mistakes through misguided strategies.

Q: How has competitive tracking transformed the construction industry?

A: [You can see] the differences between companies that track versus those that don’t. Organizations that are aggressive in their market intelligence gathering have more satisfied and loyal customers, and better overall operational performance.

Examples of that would be increases in revenue, sales margins, and operational efficiencies.

Market intelligence gathering should be a daily activity and be the responsibility of everyone in the organization.

Q: What should a company do when they find their competition specified on a project?

A: When a competitor's product is specified and [your product] is not, and depending on the project stage of design, my coaching is to contact the design team, specifically the architect, or the general contractor, or construction manager, and develop an understanding of why the competition’s product was specified.

In a “soft sell approach,” offer your support and alternatives, while emphasizing your value proposition and how your product could enhance the project.

Q: What is the biggest mistake companies make with competitive intelligence?

A: The biggest mistake that I see companies make with competitive intelligence is they react too slowly, and, in some cases, they do nothing with the intelligence.

Q: Why is reacting “too slowly” to competitive intelligence a mistake for business owners?

A: Sometimes you can miss the opportunity to adjust your business approach and your go-to-market strategy to take advantage of that intelligence.

Q: Finally, what are the biggest takeaways business owners should remember about tracking their competitors?

A: The value of competitor tracking or market intelligence is strategic in any organization, and, as I mentioned earlier, it should be a daily activity. It should be the responsibility of everyone in the organization.

A Proven Way to Effectively Track Competitors

ConstructConnect Insight empowers building product manufacturers to stay ahead by providing real-time data on projects specifying competitors' products, so you can keep track of their strengths and market position.

Insight can also help you find high-value projects to market your products, and it can analyze market trends to help you get more specifications.

Pairing Draggoo’s advice with ConstructConnect Insight can help manufacturers make smarter decisions and uncover new opportunities to grow their business.

Want to try ConstructConnect Insight for yourself? Book a demo today.

The above interview was edited for length and clarity