Incumbency is both a blessing and a curse. We have all witnessed incumbent contractors lose to challengers. The protections afforded by incumbency are greatly overrated. This blog is a cautionary tale and guide to identify this frequently fatal disease followed by some actions to overcome this epidemic. Before doing anything else. Acknowledge a fundamental truth. …
In our line of work, we see a lot of bad market research disguised as market intelligence. The sneaky thing about bad market research is that, on the surface, it looks good. It looks accurate. They include pretty charts and precise growth rates. They reference international issues shaping domestic market trends. Maybe they talk about…
Not too long ago, we wrote a blog looking at common traps we see during events such as Black Hat reviews. Taking a different spin on what we frequently see in these sessions, we look at cognitive biases and logical fallacies that often derail Black Hat teams or any capture team. Allowing these biases and…
“Thus, what enables the wise sovereign and the good general to strike and conquer, and achieve things beyond the reach of ordinary men, is foreknowledge.” – Sun Tzu on the Art of War. Let’s have a conversation about intelligence. More specifically, let’s talk about the use and misuse of “business intelligence” vs. “competitive intelligence” vs….
As competitive intelligence (CI) analysts, we’re almost always trying to find the answer to a question regarding some aspect of a major GOVCON business. While we rarely ever can answer the question definitively, we can usually provide likely answers and explanations based on available information. Whether or not you’re a CI analyst, this can be…
If you’re in the business of winning new business, it demands an extraordinary level of creativity, skill, and focus. We embrace these same concepts in execution of competitive intelligence and Black Hat reviews. When we work with capture teams during the Black Hat review phase of any complex capture, there are many competing priorities and…
Whenever we execute a competitive analysis or black hat session, the first thing we consider is the customer. Every competitor is focused on making that customer believe that their solution is the best choice. Identifying and integrating customer needs, wants, and fears into analysis, including Black Hat reviews, is critical to guarantee that our efforts…
Intelligence. There are many definitions of intelligence, but we like the below definition in particular. “Intelligence deals with all the things which should be known in advance of initiating a course of action.” Whether you work in a national security role or not, this definition has additional meaning as we apply it to competing in…
“The Fox knows many things, but the Hedgehog knows one big thing.” – Archilochus, a Greek poet, as quoted by the philosopher Isaiah Berlin. This quote’s interpretation has been debated since it was published in 1953. In a literal sense, the Fox – despite his cunning and ingenuity – can be defeated by the Hedgehog’s…
Why do capture teams across the GovCon industry conduct Black Hat Reviews? The Black Hat Review process helps you better understand you vs. your competition. How a Black Hat Review is executed ranges from the highly informal approach (a.k.a. sharing rumors) to rigorous and structured workshops. While the highly structured approach may not always be…
