How to Write a Competitor Intel Brief That Actually Helps You Win Deals

A lot of competitive research still means an afternoon of manually digging through a rival's pricing page, app store reviews, and old press releases -- and it's out of date the moment you close the tab.

Here's a faster way to structure that work, whether you do it yourself or pay someone to do it for you.

What actually matters in a competitor brief

Skip the generic SWOT template. The useful version answers five specific questions:

1. What do they actually charge, right now? Not the old number you remember -- pricing pages change quietly and often.
2. Where are customers complaining? Review sites, app stores, and support forums surface real switching triggers -- the specific frustrations that make someone go looking for an alternative.
3. What have they shipped or announced recently? A competitor's last 90 days tells you more about their direction than their "About" page does.
4. Where do they actually win, honestly? If you can't name a real strength, the brief isn't credible.
5. What's the specific opening? Not "be better" -- a concrete gap you can point a sales conversation at.

Doing it yourself

For one or two competitors, you can pull this together in a few hours: pricing pages, G2/Capterra/Trustpilot reviews, their blog and changelog, LinkedIn for recent hires (a fast growth signal), and their own case studies (read for what they don't claim).

When to pay for it instead

It stops being a good use of your own time once you need this on 3+ competitors, need it updated quarterly, or need it fast because a deal is live. That's the gap A3E's Competitor Intel Brief fills -- live competitive intelligence on up to 3 named competitors (pricing, positioning, strengths/weaknesses, recent moves, customer complaints, switching triggers) delivered as a report to your inbox within 2 hours, no calls required.

If you just want a free first look at how visible your own business is to AI assistants like ChatGPT and Perplexity before you worry about competitors, A3E also runs a free 30-second AI Visibility Score -- no card needed.