Competitive battlecardswhat each competitor claims, with sources

Method

1. 1

   Make the shelf and choose the competitors

   Make a shelf called Battlecards and give it a line: “Checked monthly. Wrong or out of date? Tell product marketing.” Then list the competitors that actually show up in deals, say Shipnest, Routewell and Carton. Three good cards beat ten thin ones.

   Each will be one document, and its overview will be three short paragraphs: who they are and who buys them, where you meet them (company size, region, the moment in the deal), and in a sentence how deals against them are won. Reps read the overview in the minute before a call; keep it to what fits in that minute.

2. 2

   Have your assistant research from public sources only

   Ask your assistant to research on the web what the competitor says publicly about the areas your deals turn on: carriers, pricing model, returns, integrations. In the guidance, name the sources allowed: their website, documentation, changelog and press releases. Rule out review sites, forums, leaked material and anything behind a sign-in. This needs an assistant with web search; Claude and ChatGPT have it, and many local set-ups do not.

   It searches, reads the pages and files a document of findings on the Battlecards shelf, one per claim, each with its links. That document becomes the card once you have checked it. It is a first pass. Some pages will be out of date, some claims will be paraphrased too strongly, and some sources will not say what the finding says.

3. 3

   Check every claim, quote it and date it

   Open each source. Where the page supports the claim, rewrite the finding as a quotation of their exact words, add “Read on 12 September 2026”, and file it as Evidence. Where it does not, delete the finding. Never paraphrase a competitor’s claim into something stronger or weaker than they said.

   Then press Edit: retitle the document with the competitor’s name, write the overview, and title each claim by its subject: “Carrier coverage”, “Returns portal”. Titles lead in Look up (⌘K), so when you search for returns before a monthly check, you land on every card that mentions it.

4. 4

   Write your answer beside each claim

   After each claim, add an Opportunity finding with your answer, in the editor or by asking your assistant to draft one from your release notes and then rewriting it: what your product does in the same area, in a sentence a rep can say aloud, with a link to your own public documentation or release notes. Link it back to the claim it answers by pasting the claim’s address.

   Claim only what ships today. If your answer depends on something on the roadmap, it is not an answer yet; leave it out of the card until it is released.

5. 5

   List the landmines

   File the things reps must not say as Risk findings, titled plainly: “Do not say they have no returns portal”. Explain why in two lines: it shipped in June, or you cannot source it, or it disparages them. Mark the ones that have already lost a deal as Key.

   Landmines are where most battlecards do their damage, because an out-of-date weakness sounds confident. This list is the part of the card to check first each month.

6. 6

   Share each card with a password

   Press Share on each card, copy the link the moment it appears, and set a password. Post the links and the password where sales already looks, such as the sales channel’s pinned message. Leave the links with no expiry (the default), and when someone leaves the team, replace each link, change its password too, and post the new ones.

   Readers see the overview and every finding with its type and importance: claims, answers and landmines. They do not see your notes, so internal doubts (“check this with the carrier team”) can sit in the margin safely.

7. 7

   Keep the cards fresh with Focus and Revisions

   Each month, put one card in Focus and ask your assistant a new research question: “What has Shipnest changed on its changelog and product pages since 1 September?” Compare it with the card and update the claims, answers and landmines. When the week ends, Revisit says so, which is your prompt to finish or move on.

   When sales asks what the card said before the last change, Revisions show every version with who changed it. The link’s read count tells you whether reps opened the card before the quarter’s big deals.