This is a crucial mantra in market or competitor analysis. Retracing your steps is a methodical way to find insights. Use it to find out where your strategy failed or why a competitor outmanoeuvred you.
Let’s break it down:
Where Did You Start?
Always begin by revisiting the assumptions you had at the outset. What market conditions did you expect? What competitive moves did you predict? The key is to check if your hypothesis is sound or flawed.
What Data Did You Rely On?
Did you rely on hard data? Or did you make decisions based on anecdotal evidence or gut feelings? Ask where and why your gut feelings got involved. Retracing your steps allows you to re-examine the quality of the inputs that guided your strategy. Were you using the most up-to-date, accurate intelligence? Or did you miss some subtle but critical market signals?
Where Did You Deviate?
Look for inflexion points. When did you make a strategic pivot? Was it a reactive decision driven by competitor behaviour, or did it stem from an internal assumption about the market? Retracing your decisions helps pinpoint the moments when your strategy might have drifted from reality.
What Did You Miss?
There is something many don’t realise and tend to miss. Competitive intelligence is as much about what you don’t see as what you do. Did you overlook that new entrant? Dismiss a changing consumer preference? Or that subtle shift in regulatory policy? Retracing your steps can reveal gaps in your competitive intelligence. They may have been invisible at the moment but are glaring in hindsight.
What Is the Data Telling You?
Information and data can mislead you. Especially if you are not asking the right questions. As you retrace your steps, check the collected data from every stage of the process. What trends were tracked? Were there any emerging signals that you dismissed or underplayed? Numbers and charts can offer valuable insights. But they can blind you. And they’re only as good as the context you place them in. Was your initial interpretation flawed? Now is the time to realign conclusions with evidence, not just what you wanted it to say.
What’s Missing? What’s Not There?
Sometimes, what’s absent is more interesting than what’s present. Gaps in your intelligence will blindside you. This could lead to strategic missteps. Sorry, let’s be real. It could lead to strategic mistakes. When retracing your steps, look not only at the data you have but also at the data you haven’t. Did you overlook competitor actions because they weren’t part of your immediate radar? Were you too focused on one market segment and missed shifting dynamics in another? We must identify these blind spots. It is key to a better, more informed approach going forward. Often, the most critical insights come from uncovering what’s not there.
The Difference Between Information and Data
Data is raw, unprocessed facts—numbers, statistics, and figures that by themselves hold little meaning. Information is data that has been processed to create insights. In market analysis, data collection is just the start. Transforming that data into information drives smart, strategic decisions. A competitor’s revenue growth is data. Knowing why it grew is important. With market positioning, product differentiation, or customer engagement turns it into information. The real value is not in accumulating data. It’s in interpreting it to find patterns, trends, and actionable opportunities.
In short, retracing your steps is not just about cleaning up past mistakes. It’s a way to improve your analysis. It ensures that next time, you move forward on solid ground. The market isn’t static—neither should your analysis be. Keep retracing, keep learning, and you’ll stay ahead of the curve.
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