Competitor change review

This playbook evaluates detected or submitted public competitor changes against an established internal baseline, produces a verified comparison brief, and routes consequential battlecard adjustments or sales alerts to the competitive intelligence or product marketing lead for approval. One run covers one competitor shift observed at public primary sources, such as live pricing pages, tier packaging matrices, release logs, or public terms of service. The process completes when verified evidence is archived in the team's configured storage, the internal competitor record in the designated repository is updated, and the marketing lead approves or declines proposed sales enablement actions; it leaves broader competitive positioning overhauls, roadmap reallocations, and unsolicited external communications outside the boundary.

• Ingest the observed competitor change report, identifying the target competitor name, observed URL, observation timestamp, reported change category, and submitting internal channel or automated trigger. Retrieve the prior baseline profile from whichever tracking repository is configured for this workspace, such as a Notion database, a Google Sheets tracking matrix, or supplied local export files, including documented pricing tiers, feature availability, packaging constraints, and linked historical battlecards. If direct API access to the repository is unconfigured or unavailable, use supplied baseline export files or manual case attachments; if the target competitor is unlisted or the reported change lacks a source reference, record the intake discrepancy, flag the missing baseline in the case log, and pause for an initial clarification before expending retrieval effort.
• Fetch primary public evidence directly from the submitted competitor URLs, capturing full-page content, timestamped DOM text, and visual captures into Google Drive or the designated local file archive. If web access is restricted, rate-limited, or blocked by bot defenses, request the submitter or lead to supply manual page captures or source HTML exports rather than hallucinating current page content. Inspect the captured text against the historical baseline to isolate concrete changes in pricing figures, seat minimums, feature inclusions, billing cycles, or contract commitments. If public pages return access restrictions, dynamic regional pricing, or contradictory statements between marketing copy and legal terms, document the discrepancy and retain both versions as unverified until corroborating evidence is established.
• Information request. When public evidence is conflicting, incomplete, or appears to be a live A/B test across different geographic endpoints, ask the product marketing lead or sales contributor who submitted the observation to provide additional deal context, buyer quotes, or supplementary documentation. Specify the target competitor, the observed discrepancy between the live page and baseline records, and the exact evidence required to confirm a genuine market shift. If the requested details are provided, incorporate them into the analysis and resume verification; if no corroborating evidence is available within the team's intake window, log the observation as an unconfirmed change candidate and proceed under the recorded uncertainty without escalating to sales.
• Evaluate the commercial materiality of the confirmed differences. Differentiate superficial messaging or visual rebranding from consequential operational shifts that invalidate existing sales talk tracks, alter competitive price positioning, or expose new packaging weaknesses. For confirmed material shifts, draft a structured comparison brief detailing the prior baseline, the confirmed current state, the impacted customer segments, and proposed revisions to active sales battlecards and objection-handling scripts. For minor or cosmetic changes that do not alter commercial terms, prepare a streamlined record update to preserve tracking continuity without alerting revenue teams.
• Approval. Present the completed competitor comparison brief, verified public evidence links, archived evidence captures, and proposed sales battlecard updates to the competitive intelligence lead or product marketing manager. Detail the specific competitor, confirmed changes against baseline, anticipated deal impact, proposed sales alert text, and exact battlecard field adjustments. If approved, proceed immediately to update internal knowledge repositories and queue the approved sales notification; if revisions to the battlecard language or alert scope are requested, update the draft according to the feedback and re-submit for sign-off; if the lead determines the change warrants no go-to-market reaction, record the decision and route the run to the declined or unresolved state without notifying revenue teams.
• Apply approved updates to the configured internal competitor profile (such as in Notion, Google Sheets, or supplied repository files), writing the verified change summary, effective date, captured snapshot links, and updated battlecard talking points. Before issuing any retry on an external write error, inspect the target repository to verify whether a partial write or duplicate entry already occurred; if no prior write succeeded, attempt a single bounded retry. Read back the updated records from the repository to verify that new values match the approved text and historical version history remains intact; if the repository remains unavailable or read-back verification fails, preserve the approved brief and updated copy in local case artifacts, route the case to the declined or unresolved column, and alert the marketing lead to complete the entry manually.
• Exception. When the competitor change reveals an urgent, hostile commercial shift—such as predatory migration discounts targeting our active pipeline, sudden deprecation of an integrated platform partner, or an immediate patent or legal assertion—escalate the case directly to the product marketing lead and relevant sales directors. Present the verified evidence, direct quotes, and immediate pipeline exposure. If the executive lead directs convening an emergency cross-functional response, open the incident channel and post the structured evidence packet; if the lead directs an off-cycle defensive battlecard, proceed immediately to draft and route that battlecard for approval; if the lead directs deferring communication pending executive review, record the deferral decision, hold all external broadcasts, and transition the run to the declined or unresolved state awaiting further instructions.
• Distribute the approved sales alert to designated revenue communication channels or team document hubs, including the verified comparison summary, direct links to updated battlecards, and actionable buyer objection scripts. Read back delivery receipts or API dispatch confirmations to verify that messages were successfully posted; if delivery fails or cannot be verified, keep the case in the declined or unresolved column awaiting manual owner confirmation rather than marking it complete. Transition the case to outcome confirmed only when both repository synchronization and alert dispatch are positively verified.
• In a fictional illustrative scenario, a competitive intelligence lead receives a submission indicating that a key competitor has eliminated its entry-level self-serve plan in favor of an enterprise-only sales engagement model with an illustrative $15,000 annual contract minimum. The agent retrieves the prior tracking baseline from the configured repository, fetches the competitor's current pricing page and terms of service, and confirms the removal of self-serve signup links. When comparing the new terms against active sales pipeline deals, the agent notes that three pending opportunities are actively evaluating the competitor's entry plan. The agent drafts an updated battlecard highlighting the competitor's increased price floor and presents the brief alongside a proposed sales alert. The product marketing lead approves the battlecard adjustments and directs an immediate alert to the account executives managing those three deals, while logging the broader market shift in the repository for the upcoming quarterly roadmap review.
• The case concludes normally in outcome confirmed only when primary evidence is captured, baseline tracking records in the configured repository are updated with read-back verification, and the product marketing lead either approves the battlecard update and verified sales alert dispatch, or deliberately logs the observation as minor without team notification. If decisive evidence cannot be verified, if repository writes or alert delivery fail verification, or if the marketing lead declines to authorize sales enablement changes, the case terminates cleanly in the declined or unresolved column with all gathered evidence preserved for future reference.