How Great PMs Outsmart the Competition: Insights from Cisco Product Lead

Most products are good. Few become market leaders. In today’s crowded B2B markets, winning comes down to how deeply you understand your competitive landscape and position your product to lead.

In this recent episode of our virtual Speaker Series, Cisco Senior Product Manager Devanshi Kotak reveals the playbook on winning in the competitive B2B markets. She dives into the following, plus more: – How to uncover your true competitive landscape and identify both direct and indirect competitors

– Frameworks for deep competitive analysis that go beyond feature comparisons

– Ways to translate competitive insights into strategy and positioning that build lasting customer trust

– How to balance near-term competitive pressures with long-term product vision instead of chasing parity

Gain practical frameworks and actionable insights to sharpen competitive strategy, strengthen positioning, and lead with clarity in high-stakes B2B markets.

Join us for new conversations with leading product executives every week. Roll through the highlights of this week’s podcast below, then head on over to our Events page to see which product leaders will be joining us next week.

Show Notes:

1. In B2B markets, strong products alone aren’t enough to win; understanding the competitive landscape is crucial.
2. Competitive analysis in B2B is about strategic roadmaps, not just features.
3. Four types of competitors exist: direct, indirect, emerging, and legacy technology.
4. Direct competitors solve the same problem in a similar manner (e.g., Google Cloud vs. AWS).
5. Competitive analysis should cover four key buckets: product/technology, go-to-market strategy, company vision, and customer perception.
6. When analyzing products, evaluate use cases, feature sets, technology differentiation, innovation velocity, UI/UX, and security.
7. B2B sales decisions are long-term investments with high switching costs.
8. Pricing strategy matters: consider seat-based, usage-based, or platform fee models.
9. Product positioning should focus on value propositions like cost savings, revenue generation, or risk mitigation.
10. Sales and post-sales strategies are critical in B2B environments.
11. Understand competitors’ target markets and customer segments.
12. Analyze competitors’ company vision and growth plans.
13. Ecosystem and industry partnerships are valuable competitive insights.
14. Customer perception and trust are paramount in B2B sales.
15. Pay attention to emerging competitors and their innovative approaches.
16. Legacy technologies (internal tools, spreadsheets) are significant competitors in B2B.
17. Innovation velocity is as important as the innovations themselves.
18. Security and compliance are crucial decision-making factors in B2B.
19. Evaluate competitors’ public references, analyst reports, and third-party validations.
20. The goal is to move from a reactive to a proactive competitive strategy.