À procura de inteligência nas Feiras e Congressos

As Feiras e Congressos são uma importante fonte de inteligência competitiva. Sítios ideais para ter uma perspectiva de conjunto e particular do que a concorrência anda a fazer... sobretudo porque a concorrência cai na tentação de expor demasiado aquilo que faz e aquilo que sabe . Como diz Leonard Fuld, um especialista incontornável para quem se interessa por IC, três dias num evento destes valem por 1,000 horas ao telefone...

Trade Shows and Congresses: A 20-to-1 Return on your CI Time

By Leonard Fuld

As we approach the holidays and trade show season winds down, I thought it a good time to reflect on the immense value of attending a scientific congress or trade show for vital intelligence. I would argue that attending such a show over three days (or about 45 hours of “on” time, is worth 1,000 hours of phone calling from your desk. Just imagine, more than a 20 times return on your intelligence time.

Too many firms attend these congresses ad hoc, with little preparation. Add to this the fact that the competitive intelligence effort is often divorced from the scientists, marketers and others also attending from the same company. What a shame!

Some of our consultants are on the road for weeks at a time, attending just such congresses and we often do so in concert with our clients. We take a team approach at covering football field-sized events as economically yet as thoroughly as possible. Just consider the competitive value of such an intense meeting, where the critical thinkers, market makers, producers, customers are present – in a sense all of Porter’s five forces are there.

Anyone that has responsibility for developing competitive insights knows how useful these meetings can be but too frequently cannot marshal their own colleagues to work the conference floor as a single coordinated unit, fanning out with particular goals in mind, visiting certain booths, knowing what questions are critical, and so on.

Speaking with one of our senior project managers about this topic, she presented some very convincing arguments for attending these shows. She strongly believes that conferences provide you terrific opportunity to

 Do a reality check on what messages your rivals send out to their target market. Messaging strategy is a particularly important when pharmaceutical and biotech firms try to position their drugs in the marketplace.
 Catch the scientific subtleties by listening directly to the scientists and engineers who directly design the studies, or create the technology.
 Understand the importance of a rival’s future investment in promoting a particular drug or new product – often way in advance of any formal announcement.
 Glimpse the future by hearing market gurus, managers from trend-setting companies discuss their view of market trends and rumors of competitive activity.

Next time you know a trade show or scientific congress is about to take place prepare for it, and build a team to fan out at the show. Just when your feet begin to ache on the third day of the event console yourself by remembering those nearly 1,000 hours of phone time you saved because you assessed your competition on the ground, in real time.