How to build a competitor battlecard

A buyer says "the other firm quoted less", and your salesperson has a few seconds to answer. A battlecard is the page the salesperson read five minutes earlier. It covers one rival in five parts. What they claim, who they suit, where buyers found them weak, where you are stronger, and what to say when the buyer mentions them. Build it from your lost deals and buyer remarks, date every fact, and keep to one page.

Why a card and not a market report?

The moment of need is short, and a forty-page study cannot help in it. A card also forces a choice. You cannot list everything about a rival on one page, so you decide what a buyer in your market actually weighs. That decision is most of the value.

What does a filled card look like?

Imagine an independent air-compressor servicing firm in Pune. Its most frequent rival is the authorised dealer of a well-known compressor brand. Here is the card its salesperson carries. The firm, the rival and every line are invented to show the layout.

RIVAL         Authorised dealer, Pune. Service contracts for one brand.
THEY CLAIM    "Genuine parts, factory-trained engineers" (their brochure)
THEY SUIT     A plant running only that brand, under warranty, that wants
              one name to call
BUYERS SAY    Charges for a visit are higher; engineer sent depends on
              the day (two lost-deal calls, dated)
WE ARE        Service on mixed brands in one contract; engineer's name
STRONGER      and phone given at the start (buyer can check)
BUYER ASKS    1. Are your parts genuine?  2. Why are you cheaper?
              3. Who comes if your engineer is away?
SAY           1. "Ask us for the part number and the source on each
                 invoice; compare it with theirs."
              2. "Ask what their quote includes: call-out, second
                 visit, spare filters. Then put ours beside it."
              3. "Two engineers know each plant; both names are on the
                 contract."
LAST CHECKED  Anita, from the last two lost deals

Which row do cards often leave out?

"They suit". It is the row that earns trust. If a plant is under warranty and wants only that brand, say on the card that the dealer is the better choice. A seller who knows when to let a deal go spends their hours on the ones that can be won.

Where do the facts come from?

Not from guesses and not from gossip. Four sources are open to any small firm.

• Your lost deals. Ring the buyer and ask what decided it. Write the sentence the buyer used.
• Buyers who compare. When a buyer shows you a rival's quote, note its format, terms and inclusions, with the buyer's permission.
• Their public pages. Website, directory profile, Google reviews and whatever they post.
• Your own people. Sellers meet the rival's name in the field. Ask for a note when it happens.

Never use anything a former employee of the rival gave you in confidence, and never copy their documents. The method for collecting without a budget is in tracking competitors without a research budget. This post is about what to do with it.

How do you word the answer to "they are cheaper"?

Write the sentence a calm person would say, and leave out anything you cannot prove.

The weak version: "Their parts are inferior and they will cut corners." The card version: "They may well be cheaper. Ask what the quote includes, then let us put ours beside it, line by line."

The second makes the buyer check, and the checking is where you are strong. If their quote includes everything, you lost nothing by asking. Tie the answer to your price discipline as well. If a discount is the next move, the seller should know the floor, which holding your price covers.

The card that accused a rival without a source

In the same invented case, the Pune firm's first card said the dealer "uses reconditioned parts". Nobody could show it. One salesperson repeated the line to a plant manager who knew the dealer's service head, and the manager ended the meeting.

The owner took the line off and rang the four buyers who had last chosen the dealer. Two said the same thing: the dealer's visit cost more, but the engineer came reliably. One said the dealer was slower on small jobs. The card now holds those facts with dates, plus the question about what a stoppage costs per day. It is a weaker card for the salesperson, who liked the sharper line, and two weeks pass before the team stops asking for it back. In the quarter that followed the team lost one more deal to the dealer, a ₹2.4 lakh contract, and won two where the question about stoppage cost came up. The salesperson also learnt to say, to a plant under warranty, "you are better off with them for now, ring us when it ends".

An accusation with no source loses the room. A dated remark from a buyer, followed by a question, lets the buyer weigh it for themselves.

How should a salesperson use the card in the room?

Read it before the meeting and leave it in the bag. Pulling a card out in front of a buyer looks like a script. Practise the three answers aloud in the car or at the desk until they sound like your own, then use only the one that fits. If the buyer names a rival that has no card, say so honestly: "I do not know their terms well enough to compare, so let me find out and tell you." Then write the name in the notes, so the rival can earn a card if it keeps appearing.

How do you keep cards from going stale?

Put "last checked" on every card, with a name. Re-check when a lost deal mentions the rival and in the meeting where you review lost deals. If the date is more than a year old, mark the card "unverified" and ask for a refresh before anyone relies on it.

Cap the pack at three cards. Retire a card when the rival stops appearing. A thick binder means the team has stopped reading. Never put a rival's price on a card unless a buyer showed you the quote or it is on their own public page, with the date you saw it.

When is a battlecard the wrong tool?

If nobody else in your area sells what you sell, a card will teach your team to talk about rivals who do not matter. If you win on relationships and the buyer has not named a rival, bringing one up plants a doubt. Use the card only when the buyer raises the name. In regulated trades such as health, finance or education, avoid comparative claims about named rivals and check with your own adviser or the regulator.

Build the first card from your last lost deals

Take the rival who appears most in your last ten lost deals and fill the card from the calls. If you want help with the research, competitive intelligence is the work, part of how you sell, and tell us what you need is where to begin.