Competitor Intel

Overview

Delivers actionable competitive intelligence for small businesses. Identifies competitive set, researches positioning/pricing/marketing, creates SWOT analysis, builds positioning maps, and provides specific differentiation recommendations with outputs formatted for downstream skills.

Workflow

<Definition - Modes>

• Quick: Single competitor or single dimension (pricing, reviews, marketing). Use when user asks about ONE competitor or ONE dimension. Produces focused answer in 1-2 minutes.
• Full: Complete 6-step analysis with positioning map, SWOT, and recommendations. Use when user wants landscape view or doesn't specify a single question. Takes 5-10 minutes. </Definition - Modes>

<Definition - Competitor Categories>

• Direct: Same product/service, same market
• Indirect: Different solution to same problem
• Aspirational: Where you want to be in 2-3 years
• Emerging: New entrants or adjacent players moving in </Definition - Competitor Categories>

<Definition - Review Mining Protocol> Platforms to check: Google Business, G2/Capterra, Yelp, Trustpilot, Glassdoor. For each platform capture: overall rating, total review count, top 3 praised themes, top 3 complaint themes, owner response rate, most recent review date. Minimum threshold: 10 reviews across 2+ platforms for confidence. If below threshold, flag as low confidence. </Definition - Review Mining Protocol>

<Definition - Skill-Ready Outputs> Three formatted blocks always included (even in Quick mode):

1. SEO Content Gap Targets table (for seo-content-writer)
2. Competitive Positioning Snippet (for proposal-generator)
3. Competitor Objection Handlers table (for outreach-sequence-builder) </Definition - Skill-Ready Outputs>

<Workflow - Router description="Determine whether to run Quick or Full analysis based on the user's prompt." tools=[] triggers=["research my competitors", "competitive analysis", "what are my competitors doing", "how do I differentiate", "competitor pricing", "who am I competing with", "market landscape", "SWOT analysis", "spy on", "compare us to"]

1. [Decide] Analyze the user's prompt. Is it about ONE specific competitor or ONE specific dimension, or is it a broad/landscape question?
   • Single competitor named + single dimension (e.g., "how much does Acme charge?"): route to Quick Analysis.
   • Single competitor named + multiple dimensions (e.g., "tell me everything about Acme"): route to Full Analysis scoped to that competitor.
   • Multiple competitors or landscape question (e.g., "who are my competitors?"): route to Full Analysis.
   • Ambiguous (e.g., "research Acme's pricing and marketing"): route to Quick Analysis for the first dimension, then offer to continue. Validate: Exactly one workflow selected. If fails: Default to Full Analysis.

</Workflow - Router>

<Workflow - Full Analysis description="Complete 6-step competitive intelligence report." tools=[web_search, url_fetch, run_python, file_write] triggers=["research my competitors", "competitive analysis", "market landscape", "SWOT analysis"]

1. [Agent] Step 0: Pull internal context. If email tools are available, search inbox for competitor brand names and lost deal mentions. If unavailable, skip silently. Validate: Any internal signals found enrich later steps. No signals is acceptable. If fails: Skip. Proceed with web-only research.

2. [Decide] Is business context sufficient (industry, geography, at least 1 competitor name)?

   • Yes: proceed to step 3.
   • No: ask user what their business does, their market/geography, and any known competitors. Validate: At minimum, business description and geography are known. If fails: Cannot proceed without context. Re-ask.

3. [Agent] Step 1: Identify competitive set. Search "[service/product] + [geography]", "alternatives to [known competitor]", review sites, and industry directories. Categorize per <Definition - Competitor Categories>. Target 3-5 direct + 1-2 emerging. Validate: At least 3 direct competitors identified with websites. If fails: Use only user-provided names. Note discovery limitations.

4. [Ask user] Present discovered competitors. Confirm the list is correct before deep research. Validate: User confirms or adjusts the list. If fails: Adjust per user feedback and re-confirm.

5. [Agent] Step 2: Deep research per competitor. For each, research: positioning/messaging, product/service offering with pricing, marketing strategy, customer reviews per <Definition - Review Mining Protocol>, business intelligence (team size, funding, tech stack). Validate: At least 3 dimensions researched per competitor. If fails: Use web_search snippets if url_fetch fails. Note incomplete data.

6. [Agent] Step 3: Build positioning map. Create feature comparison matrix and 2x2 positioning grid (price vs. service level). Identify white space. Validate: Map shows clear opportunity for user's business. If fails: Provide comparison table without visual map.

7. [Agent] Step 4: SWOT analysis. Each item must be specific, evidence-based, and paired with an action. Validate: No generic items like "good service". Every item references specific research. If fails: Revise with concrete evidence from Step 2.

8. [Agent] Step 5: Strategic recommendations + skill-ready outputs. Produce 5-10 prioritized recommendations (insight, opportunity, action, timeline, effort) plus the three formatted blocks per <Definition - Skill-Ready Outputs>. Validate: Each recommendation has specific action. All three skill-ready outputs present. If fails: Add missing outputs.

9. [Agent] Step 6: Deliver report and recommend monitoring cadence (weekly for reviews, monthly for content, quarterly for full refresh). Offer to save as markdown or create a spreadsheet tracker (Google Sheets, Excel via SharePoint/OneDrive, or local Excel - depending on what's connected). Validate: Monitoring cadence included. Deliverable is complete. If fails: Add monitoring recommendation.

</Workflow - Full Analysis>

<Workflow - Quick Analysis description="Focused single-dimension or single-competitor analysis." tools=[web_search, url_fetch] triggers=["how much does [competitor] charge", "what is [competitor] doing on social", "compare us to [company] on [dimension]"]

1. [Decide] Identify the single competitor or single dimension from the prompt. Validate: Exactly one competitor or one dimension identified. If fails: If ambiguous, ask user to clarify. If broad, route to Full Analysis.

2. [Agent] Research the specific dimension using web_search and url_fetch. Validate: Relevant data found for the dimension. If fails: Report what was found. Flag if data is limited.

3. [Agent] Present findings in Quick format: Key Finding, Implication for You, Suggested Action. Include skill-ready outputs per <Definition - Skill-Ready Outputs>. Validate: All three sections present plus skill-ready outputs. If fails: Add missing sections.

</Workflow - Quick Analysis>

<Template - Quick Mode Output>

[Competitor Name]: [Dimension]

[Direct answer to the question]

Key Finding: [Most important insight] Implication for You: [What this means for your business] Suggested Action: [What to do about it]

[Skill-Ready Outputs] </Template - Quick Mode Output>