Doing my regular bout of digital housekeeping this week and I came across a folder from many years ago while I was doing an Enterprise Ireland Management Programme.
One of the concepts introduced to us were Battlecards.
Battlecards are visual aids comparing your company’s product, service, features, and/or pricing to one or many competitors. Typically a one-pager, a battlecard is a quick way to provide an overview of your competitors and to see how you stack up against them in crucial areas of performance and value.
The Business Battlecard was introduced by Paul O’Dea of Select Strategies in Ireland and can be purchased here.
The purpose of the concept is to develop a growth strategy with the aim of keeping strategy creation simple and strong. Of course it also needs to be comprehensive. Because strategy can be daunting, it offers a way to break it down, just as large-scale wars are broken down into battles and skirmishes.
So what are the ‘battles’ in business strategy? The concept centres on five key questions – the ‘battlegrounds’ on which companies wage war:
- What do you want to be famous for?
- Who are your selected customers?
- Where is your measurable value?
- Why should customers choose you rather than the competition?
- How will you get your product to market?
Using these five simple, but crucial steps, The Business Battlecard helps you craft a winning strategy to grow your company.
The book offers various worksheets that tackle these different questions but the one that resonated with me the most was the Business Battlecard.
Battlecards should be a team effort across your organisation — your sales team knows who your biggest competitors are, your marketing team knows about their brands, reviews, and online presence, and your customer success team knows why you’re losing existing clients to competition.
If you’re doing this solo, you can carry out your research across the following areas:
- Scour your competitors’ website for objective facts and details.
- Read online review sites for subjective input around topics like value and usability.
- Search for mentions of your competition in the news or on social media.
- Reach out to current accounts to see why they chose you over a competitor.
It is important to update the content regularly as things never stay the same.
Times change. You add more products and features, and so do your competitors.
Building your battlecards should be seen as an ongoing project rather than a one-time task, so make a note to stay up-to-date on your competitors. Update your battlecards as needed to avoid presenting false or outdated information on your competitors to your prospects.
If you would like to explore further topics on this subject, here are some resources worth your time:
