Build a better CI program that actually increases sales

This article is based on a talk from our Competitive Intelligence Summit.

As Director of Competitive Intelligence at Dell Technologies, I’ve spent over a decade building and scaling a CI practice that empowers our sales teams and partners. When I started, we were a team of three.

Today, we’re twenty-three strong – likely one of the largest CI teams across any industry. That journey has been defined by intentionality, iteration, and a commitment to enabling sales with the right insights at the right time.

Think of competitive intelligence the way chef Marc Murphy talks about seasoning food: do it with intent. Every initiative we launched, every deliverable we built, had to serve a clear purpose. And that’s exactly how our CI roadmap took shape.

Back to basics: Building the foundation

When we first started, we knew we needed to get back to basics. For CI, that means creating deliverables that meet sales where they are. In the beginning, that meant fixing battlecards.

Too often, battlecards are overstuffed with dense text, tiny fonts, and an avalanche of information. They become more confessional than tactical. But salespeople don’t need to know everything you know about a competitor.

They need to know what matters to win a deal:

Key weaknesses to exploit
Clear differentiators to emphasize
A few FAQs or references to disarm objections

Competitive pricing is another essential but it must be sourced ethically. For example, if you find a confidential price list online, even if it’s publicly accessible, check with legal before using it. Trust is as important as insight.

We also realized that in-depth product comparisons were crucial. Most competitive deals don’t close on surface-level features; they require real understanding. So we built deep dives that helped sales navigate those battles.

Above all, we embraced the KISS principle: Keep It Simple, Stupid. Make insights digestible. Make content usable. And remember that salespeople communicate these insights to customers, so clarity is everything.

Psychology and sales enablement

The reason simplicity works lies in how our brains function. Daniel Kahneman, in his book Thinking, Fast and Slow, explains that we use two systems of thinking:

System 1 is intuitive, fast, and often automatic.
System 2 is deliberate, logical, and effortful.

Good enablement content activates both. Hook salespeople with intuitive messaging (System 1), then back it with facts and data (System 2).

It mirrors how customers make buying decisions too: they want it first, then justify it.

I often use a simple trick in presentations to illustrate the power of System 1. I’ll ask, “How many of each animal did Moses take on the ark?” Most people quickly answer “two”, but that’s wrong. It was Noah, not Moses. This moment always highlights how quickly our intuitive minds jump to conclusions.

In competitive selling, our goal is to give salespeople the kind of insights that help their customers make confident snap judgments, backed by logic and fact.

This isn’t just theory. It’s practical. For example, when we provide sales with visuals or concise talking points that frame a competitor’s weakness, it allows them to quickly shift the narrative in customer conversations. That framing power is what turns intelligence into revenue.

Meet sales where they work

We quickly realized we needed to stop expecting sales to find CI – we had to bring it to them. We integrated our insights directly into Salesforce. Now, when a rep flags a competitor in CRM, they automatically receive an email with links to battlecards, pricing, and other relevant content.

We also added custom CRM fields to track competitors and use cases. That created a closed-loop system for capturing win/loss data and use case trends. Over time, we used that data to:

Train sellers based on gaps
Identify hot competitors
Adjust tactics as go-to-market motions evolved

The more we embedded CI into their workflows, the more adoption and value we saw.

We’ve also explored automation. If a rep selects a competitor in CRM, an automated trigger sends out targeted CI content. This makes enablement scalable and proactive. When done right, CI becomes part of the sales process, not a separate resource.

Even beyond CRM, we make sure our content is accessible on mobile. Salespeople work on the go, and arming them with a mobile app or mobile-optimized content means CI can be consulted at the point of need, not just during quarterly business reviews or internal meetings.

Making the case with visuals

Sales leaders are busy. Data alone doesn’t move them, but visual stories do. We used platforms like Power BI and Tableau to transform usage data, pipeline trends, and competitive movements into quick-hit visuals.

Effective visuals tell a story in 5–7 seconds. One of my favorite examples is Hans Rosling’s video visualizing health and wealth over 200 years. He took 120,000 data points and made them sing.

That’s the bar for great CI storytelling. Visualizations remove friction. They bridge the gap between analysis and action. When you can show a sales leader a heatmap of competitive wins and losses by region, the next step becomes obvious.

We even use visuals to create momentum around new initiatives. For example, when we launched a CI training program for new hires, we showed how rep performance increased after just 30 days of platform use. Seeing those stats charted made the program an easy sell to leadership.

Choosing a platform: Basics first, tech second

A question I hear often: Which platform should I use for CI?

Here’s the truth: if you haven’t nailed the basics, the platform won’t save you. Most CI platforms require investment not just in dollars, but in time, governance, and integration.

Before you invest, ask:

Who are you supporting? (Sales reps, partners, etc.)
What features do you really need?
Will you actually use the news aggregation? (Test it!)
Do you need mobile access?
Can you measure usage and ROI?

Some small teams do just fine using SharePoint, Slack, or Teams. And even when you choose a platform, be sure to evaluate it in a real-world test. Sales usage is the only metric that matters.

We started small with twenty-five users. Within months, we scaled to 1,500 users. Today, we support more than 45,000. That growth came not just from tech, but from meeting sellers’ needs consistently.

Another consideration when evaluating tools is how the platform integrates with your existing workflows. Can it replace static decks with live dashboards? Can reps download content and personalize it quickly? Does it update automatically to reflect the latest changes in market dynamics? These questions are key to determining long-term fit.

From enablement to intelligence

Early on, we adopted a maturity model for CI inspired by a 2010 GIA study. It laid out five stages:

Beginners
Informal firefighters
Contributors
Influencers
Strategic directors

Not every company can or should aim for stage 5. Culture, headcount, and resources all play a role. But every CI leader should know where they are and where they want to go.

The model helped us move from reactive to proactive. Once we got the basics down, we shifted to value-add services: data mining, predictive analytics, and deep stakeholder alignment.

We frequently run win/loss interviews and combine them with CRM data. This hybrid view helps us understand not just why we win or lose, but how buyer perceptions evolve. When we paired this with buyer journey mapping, we uncovered blind spots in how competitors influenced key decision stages.

Additionally, we developed personas, not just for buyers, but for competitors. Understanding how specific competitors sell, how they position their solution, and what language they use gave us a blueprint for counter-positioning more effectively.

Predictive CI and continuous learning

Recently, we’ve been investing in predictive analytics. Through a proof of concept, we developed a way to collect data and identify leading indicators for competitive shifts up to 24 months in advance.

We also track pipeline velocity. If deals against a certain competitor slow down, we investigate: Are they changing pricing? Messaging? Bundling? That feedback loop lets us adapt before it’s too late.

One of the most powerful tactics we use is benchmarking top sellers. Every quarter, we identify the 1–2% who consistently win in competitive deals and study what they do differently. Then we package those learnings for the rest of the field.

In one case, we found that top performers used visual storytelling more effectively during sales pitches. So we created training sessions and templates to scale that success. Small wins like that can create massive impact.

We’ve also experimented with CI bundling. Think of it as the equivalent of a retail end cap: packaging insights, collateral, and tools for a specific use case or persona. This removes friction and gives reps everything they need in one place.

Measuring success: ROI or bust

You can’t prove value if you don’t measure it. That’s why our team is obsessed with ROI.

We track:

Win rates of CI users vs. non-users (4x higher)
Deal sizes (40% larger)
Sales cycle time (18–21 days faster)

These numbers aren’t guesses. We measure them monthly, quarterly, and annually – and they’ve helped us justify more resources and platform investment.

If you’re not measuring ROI yet, start small. Define what success looks like, baseline it, and measure progress. It might be usage, win/loss, or even seller feedback. Just make sure it’s provable.

In our case, having ROI metrics built into our narrative made it easier to advocate for headcount and budget. It’s not just about saying CI matters. It’s about showing it moves the needle.

We also build dashboards for internal stakeholders. This transparency not only increases credibility but invites more collaboration. When marketing, product, and sales see the same ROI metrics, alignment becomes easier.

In short

If you want to scale your CI practice and increase your organization’s impact on sales, start with these fundamentals:

Get the basics right (battlecards, pricing, deep dives)
Make it simple and usable
Embed CI where sales works
Visualize insights effectively
Build a maturity roadmap
Measure ROI obsessively
Always be improving

Most importantly: don’t be afraid to try something new. The best ideas often come from small experiments. Let your curiosity lead you.

CI is no longer a nice-to-have. It’s a growth engine. And with the right mindset and tactics, you can turn it into a force multiplier for sales.

Still stuck in “reporting mode”? Our win/loss ebook shows you how to turn win-loss insights into real revenue impact.