After a quick “meet at my office” text message to Janet and Sam, Alice started walking back to her office.

Along the way, she thought about the meeting she had just finished with Bob. It fit the pattern that Alice had observed with so many clients for competitive intelligence.

First, they were wary about her group before tentatively showing some cautious curiosity. Then, like Bob, they seemed determined to make it clear that they were already doing everything possible to understand and beat the competition. Eventually, every manager asserted that no competitive intelligence group could do better! Finally, confronted by unanswered questions and undesirable results that they knew so well, a few asked for help.

Alice empathized with them. She saw the pressure that they endured and the earnest efforts to succeed. She knew that feeling “stuck” or unsure about how to proceed was an uncomfortable and vulnerable feeling. Over time, Alice had learned to listen calmly to the emotion. The “CI attacks” and challenges were not about her or her team. In fact, she learned to reframe them into a personal request for help. She knew that asking for help takes courage.

Janet and Sam were waiting for Alice in her office.

Janet recently joined the CI team as the information specialist. She had already proven that she could locate obscure and difficult to find data quickly. Just “Janet it” had become the byword for doing the tough searches. She mastered the hard-to-find details.

Sam’s forte was different. If Janet saw the trees and had names for each of them, Sam was adept at seeing patterns in the forest. Alice counted on his intuition to make sense of seemingly random data. He often saw what others missed.

She closed the door and sat down to face them.

“Well, we have a new project with Bob’s team,” she began. “His business is in a bind and he needs our help to reconsider his product line strategies. Next week he is reporting to his boss on his plans for improvement. He specifically needs to explain the competitive issues.”

Alice continued, “I am meeting with Bob at 4 PM today and we need to get prepared. Where do we get started?”

Janet and Sam exchanged a glance. Sam spoke first. “Bob’s team needs help?” he asked with some incredulousness. “That is the last team in the entire company that I would expect to ask for our help.” (Bob’s reputation was well known.)

Alice laughed and replied, “No kidding. Nevertheless, I think that he is mystified about how to improve his business. A big part of the mystery is what our competitors are doing and how that affects his product line. I told him that we could help and apparently he is willing to give us a try.”

It was Janet’s turn now. “I’ve heard about his team. It is a smart group. Do you think that they will respect anything we contribute?”

Alice thought for a moment. That was a good question. An important part of her job was to coach Janet and Sam. They needed to know how to do competitive intelligence and navigate the corporate structure. “No, they won’t accept our input just because we are the competitive intelligence team. It is more likely that they will suspect our role at first. It will help, of course, if Bob is on board and that is why I want your thoughts about my meeting with him later today.”

Sam smiled and went first. “Let’s get the basics started. We need to ‘Janet it’ the financials, product details, trend summaries and analyst reports,” he said. Janet nodded. The two of them had developed a complementary way of working.

He continued, “I’ll start with a list of key competitors and some initial strategy summaries for each one. We need to know what they are doing and changing. Plus, I know that Bob’s team has some summaries for his product line strategy. I’ll get a copy to prepare for some comparisons.”

Alice said, “That’s a good start. Why don’t you complete a survey of what we have and what we need as soon as possible? Shoot me an email by 3 PM today. Don’t forget to assemble the internal help list.”

The “internal help list” was an ad hoc list of people that could help with the analyses. Cultivating these people served two purposes. One, they could contribute information and interpretations. Second, when they were appropriately involved, they owned and promoted the conclusions far better than Alice’s team could do by itself. Alice had learned the hard way that ignoring them would slow her down or, worse, cause the same people to work against the conclusions of the CI team.

After Janet and Sam left, Alice took a deep breath.

This type of assignment was exciting but there were also risks. Would her team be able to produce valuable information fast enough? Would Bob become impatient with the process? Would she get the support she needed from other people? Would Bob’s team help with the assessment and accept the recommendations?

She knew that the key to getting started was the right set of questions. That is what she intended to talk with Bob about that afternoon. If the questions were focused and reasonable, then the answers could help Bob adjust his strategies.

At 3:45 PM, Alice began packing her notes for the meeting with Bob. Sam and Janet had come through as she expected. The information inventory was complete, the internal help list was done and a brainstormed list of key questions was prepared.

It was 4 PM and Alice was standing outside Bob’s office door.

At 4:15, there was still no sign of Bob.

[Would you like to know what happens next? Leave a comment to let me know.]