Inc. Magazine|November 2021
A few years ago, I was given an unorthodox assignment: Find out why an apparel company was losing market share to a competitor. Our client, which I’ll call BestCloth,* had a stronger brand and social presence, cooler spokespeople, cheaper prices, and greener fabric. And yet, month after month, its customers were fleeing to the competition (let’s call it Apparel Fire).
BestCloth was convinced that standard market forces weren’t at play, and it wanted answers. Assembling competitive intelligence often involves hiring public relations firms, running customer surveys, chatting up attendees at trade conferences, and analyzing demographic data culled from social media advertising. BestCloth could have opted for this approach, and maybe it would have worked. Instead, it chose to tap us, a private investigations firm.
It was a bold move. While…
