Run a Competitive Reality Check

Know how strong your position really is if the market shifts.

What this is for

Testing your advantage under pressure—so you can see where you’re vulnerable, what survives stress, and what to shore up before competitors or changes erode your value.

What you get

A mapped view of your competitive strengths and weaknesses

Scenario-based pressure tests (e.g., new entrant, price war, customer shift)

Clear gap analysis vs. realistic threats

Action plan to defend, differentiate, or pivot

Core logic

A “good” position on paper can fall apart when assumptions change. By interrogating your differentiation, dependencies, customer loyalty, and cost structure through realistic stress scenarios, you uncover whether your current edge is durable or fragile—and what to do about it.

Step-by-step

List your claimed advantages

Examples: pricing, speed, niche expertise, customer relationships, proprietary process, access to supply, brand trust.

Identify key threat vectors

Common tests:

New competitor undercutting price

Customer preference shift

Supply cost spike

Loss of a major partner or channel

Regulatory or technology disruption

Score resilience of each advantage

For every advantage vs. each threat, rate:

Durability: How easily can it be copied or neutralized?

Recovery: If it breaks, can you recover quickly?

Customer stickiness: Does the customer care enough to stay?

Map worst-case shifts

Build 2–3 stress scenarios combining threats (e.g., price pressure + customer preference change) and simulate impact on retention, margin, and share.

Gap & opportunity analysis

Where are you weakest?

Which advantage can be strengthened or made more defensible?

Where is investment needed to build a new buffer or hedge?

Define responses

Defend: Reinforce high-value, threatened advantages (e.g., loyalty programs, contracts).

Differentiate: Double down on uniquely hard-to-copy aspects.

Pivot: Shift if core position collapses under plausible stress.

Hedge: Build alternate revenue paths or reduce dependency on single points of failure.

Monitor indicators

Set early-warning signals tied to each threat (e.g., emerging low-cost competitors, customer sentiment drift, supplier price alerts).

Decision thresholds / guardrails

Core advantage scores low on durability and has high impact if lost → Immediate action to reinforce or hedge.

Multiple threat vectors align in a scenario that collapses your position → Treat as strategic risk; create contingency path.

No clear differentiation under stress → Invest in making one or niching down.

Overconfidence without testing → Always validate through at least one real-world small experiment or data signal.

Examples

SaaS: A feature-led advantage is threatened by a well-funded new entrant. Reality check reveals low switching cost—response: build deeper integrations and lock in usage.

E-commerce: Price is the main differentiator. A competitor launches a cheaper copy—stress test shows margin collapse; pivot to service/experience differentiation.

Service provider: Reputation is the moat. Scenario of key testimonials fading exposes vulnerability—response: systematize referrals and case-study collection to solidify trust.

Thinking checks

If a top competitor copied your offer at a lower price, would customers stay or leave?

What single external change would hurt you most, and do you have a plan?

Are your advantages concentrated or diversified?

Do you track early signals that suggest pressure is building?

If the answer is no…

Start with the most plausible threat and test your position against it (customer feedback, small price experiment, competitor tracking).

Shore up or diversify before scaling further.

Re-run the check periodically—markets and competitors evolve.

What to track (minimum)

Durability scores of key advantages

Threat scenario outcomes (impact simulations)

Early-warning signal trends

Actions taken to defend/differentiate and their effectiveness