A competitor launches in your therapy area. Or adds reps. Or offers your distributor better terms.
Within a day, the room wants a response.
I have seen what the fast response usually looks like. An emergency meeting. A new campaign by Monday. Extra bonus goods pushed into the distributor to fill the shelf first. Every rep told to attack.
A few weeks later the distributor is overstocked, the reps are confused, and the brand plan has been quietly dropped. The competitor did not have to win. We handed it over.
Porter's approach to competitor analysis starts somewhere calmer. What are their goals? Their assumptions? Their current strategy and their real capabilities? Only then decide.
In my teams, the planned response looks like this.
- Read what they actually did, and which customers it touches.
- Watch sell-out and distributor stock. Keep the agreed bonus terms.
- Re-brief first-line managers on the few segments at risk.
- Hold the plan. Change only the tactics that are exposed.
And never talk down their product to a doctor. Talk about your own evidence.
“Answer the move. Keep the plan.”
Lesson 15 of 16 in Step 1: Setting strategy, with the full guide and a checklist for this week.