Competitors

When you lose a deal to a competitor, that information is valuable. Tracking which competitors win, how often, and in which situations helps you understand your market position and time re-engagement for maximum impact.

This article covers how competitor tracking works in Rizer, how to set it up, and how to use competitive data to win back lost deals.

Why Track Competitors

Lost deals contain competitive intelligence. Every time a prospect chooses someone else, you learn something about your market position — if you capture and analyze the data.

Competitor tracking helps you:

See patterns you’d otherwise miss. Anecdotally, you might think you lose to Competitor X a lot. But is it really a lot? More than Competitor Y? More this year than last? Data replaces gut feelings with facts.

Understand where you’re strong and weak. Maybe you win against Competitor A when selling your enterprise product but lose when selling your starter tier. That product-level view reveals positioning opportunities.

Time re-engagement strategically. If you know a prospect signed a one-year contract with a competitor last March, you can set your callback for February — right when they’re evaluating whether to renew.

Craft better re-engagement messaging. When you reach back out, you can address the specific competitor they chose. “I know you went with Competitor X — how’s that been working out?” opens a different conversation than a generic follow-up.

Spot market shifts. If a competitor that used to win occasionally is suddenly winning a lot, something changed. Maybe they improved their product, cut prices, or got better at sales. Trend data helps you respond.

The Competitors Report

The main view of your competitive data lives at Reports > Competitors.

[Screenshot: Competitors report showing competitor products with loss counts and revenue]

What You’ll See

The report displays a table with your competitive win/loss data:

Competitor products — The competitor’s specific product or offering that won the deal. If you’ve mapped their products, you’ll see names like “Competitor X – Enterprise” rather than just “Competitor X.”

Satisfaction — If captured during recycling, how satisfied the prospect seemed with their choice. This helps prioritize re-engagement — unhappy customers are warmer targets.

Our product — Which of your products the competitor beat. This shows you the specific competitive matchup.

Losses — Number of deals lost to this competitor/product combination.

Amount lost — Total value of deals lost to this competitor.

The report is sortable. Click column headers to sort by number of losses, amount lost, or alphabetically by competitor name.

Filtering the Report

Narrow down the data using filters:

Product filter — See competitive data for specific products. Useful when you want to understand the competitive landscape for one part of your business.

Time period filter — Filter by year or month. Compare this quarter to last quarter, or this year to last year.

Owner filter — See competitive data for specific reps. Useful for understanding if certain reps struggle with particular competitors.

Reading the Data

The report answers questions like:

• Who are we losing to most often?
• Which competitor is costing us the most revenue?
• Which of our products face the most competitive pressure?
• Are competitive losses increasing or decreasing?

Look for concentrations. If one competitor accounts for 50% of your competitive losses, that’s where to focus your competitive strategy. If losses are spread evenly across many competitors, you might have a different kind of problem — maybe positioning or differentiation issues.

Drilling Into Details

Click the arrow next to any competitor row to expand and see the individual deals:

• Company name
• Deal value
• Lost date
• Contact information
• Current recycling status

This drill-down shows you exactly which prospects chose that competitor. When it’s time to re-engage — say, around contract renewal time — you have a ready-made list.

[Screenshot: Expanded competitor row showing individual deals lost to that competitor]

Setting Up Competitors

Before you can track competitive losses, you need to configure your competitors in Rizer.

During Onboarding

When you first set up Rizer, the onboarding wizard includes a competitors step. The AI scans your HubSpot deal history and suggests competitors it found mentioned in deal notes.

For each suggested competitor, you can:

• Accept it (it’s a real competitor)
• Edit the name (clean up how it appears)
• Remove it (it’s not actually a competitor)
• Add their products
• Map to your products

This gives you a starting point based on your actual data.

Adding Competitors Later

To add a competitor after onboarding:

1. Go to Reports > Competitors
2. Click + Competitor
3. Enter the competitor’s company name
4. Click Save

[Screenshot: Add competitor modal with name field]

The competitor now appears in dropdown lists when recycling deals.

Adding Competitor Products

Each competitor can have multiple products. Adding these enables more granular tracking — you can see that you lose to “Competitor X – Enterprise” differently than “Competitor X – Starter.”

To add a competitor’s products:

1. Go to Settings > Competitors (or access from the report)
2. Find the competitor and click the menu icon
3. Click Edit
4. In the Products section, click + Product
5. Enter the product name
6. Select which of your products this competes with
7. Click Save

[Screenshot: Competitor edit modal showing product mapping]

Mapping Competitor Products to Your Products

Product mapping connects their offerings to yours. This enables reporting that shows specific matchups — “When we sell Product A, we lose to Competitor X’s Enterprise product 60% of the time.”

When adding a competitor product:

1. Enter the competitor product name
2. Select which of your products it competes with
3. You can select multiple products if their offering competes across your line

The mapping doesn’t have to be perfect. If you’re not sure, make your best guess. You can always update it later.

Recording Competitor Information When Recycling

Competitor data gets captured when you recycle a deal. Here’s how to record it properly.

The Competitor Section

When recycling a deal — whether from HubSpot or Rizer — you’ll see a competitor information section in the form.

[Screenshot: Competitor section of the recycling form with all fields visible]

Solution Type

First, indicate what the prospect chose instead of you:

Competitor — They chose a named competitor you can identify.

In-house solution — They decided to build their own rather than buy.

No solution — They decided not to solve the problem at all.

Unknown — You don’t know what they chose.

Only select “Competitor” if you actually know who won. If you’re guessing, “Unknown” is more honest and keeps your data clean.

Competitor Name

If they chose a competitor, select which one from the dropdown. This shows competitors you’ve configured in Rizer.

If the competitor isn’t in your list, you can add them on the fly:

1. Click + Add new
2. Enter the competitor name
3. The new competitor is created and selected

Competitor Product

If you know which specific product they chose, select it. This dropdown shows products you’ve configured for the selected competitor.

If you don’t know the specific product, leave it blank. Some data is better than no data — you can still track that you lost to the competitor even without product-level detail.

Satisfaction

How satisfied does the prospect seem with their choice? Options typically range from very satisfied to very dissatisfied, with options in between.

This is subjective — based on what you’ve heard or inferred. Maybe the prospect mentioned concerns during the sales process. Maybe you’ve heard through the grapevine that the implementation isn’t going well.

Satisfaction helps prioritize re-engagement. A prospect who’s unhappy with their choice is much warmer than one who’s thrilled.

If you don’t know, leave it blank or select a neutral option.

Contract Timing

If you know when the competitor contract started or when it renews, record it:

Contract start date — When they signed with the competitor.

Renewal date — When the contract comes up for renewal.

This information is gold for timing re-engagement. If you know they signed a one-year contract in March, you can set your callback for January or February — right when they’re starting to think about renewal.

Even approximate dates help. “Sometime in Q1” is better than no information at all.

Using Competitor Data

Once you’re tracking competitors, put the data to work.

Prioritizing Re-engagement

Not all competitive losses are equal opportunities for win-back:

High priority:

• Prospect expressed dissatisfaction with their choice
• Contract renewal is coming up
• Competitor has had public problems (outages, price increases, leadership changes)
• You’ve addressed the reason they chose the competitor (pricing change, new feature)

Lower priority:

• Prospect seemed very happy with their choice
• Recently signed (years before renewal)
• Competitor is deeply entrenched
• No clear reason why things would be different now

Use the competitor report drill-down to identify high-priority targets.

Timing Callbacks Around Renewals

If you capture contract timing, you can set callback dates strategically:

1-2 months before renewal — Early enough to be part of the evaluation, late enough that they’re actually thinking about it.

At the one-year mark — If you don’t know exact dates but know they signed roughly when the deal was lost, assume annual contracts and follow up around the anniversary.

After known competitor issues — If a competitor has a major outage, price increase, or other problem, consider reaching out sooner.

Crafting Competitive Messaging

When you re-engage a deal lost to a known competitor, tailor your approach:

Acknowledge the choice. “I know you went with [Competitor] — how’s that been working out?” shows you remember and aren’t pretending the previous conversation didn’t happen.

Be curious, not pushy. Ask about their experience rather than immediately pitching. You might learn valuable competitive intelligence.

Address what’s changed. If you’ve improved since they evaluated you — new features, better pricing, stronger support — mention it.

Don’t trash-talk. Speaking negatively about competitors usually backfires. Let them share their own concerns.

Informing Product and Strategy

Competitor data reveals strategic insights:

If you consistently lose to one competitor:

• What are they doing better?
• Can you differentiate more clearly?
• Are you targeting the wrong prospects?

If competitive losses are increasing:

• Has a competitor improved their offering?
• Have they gotten more aggressive on pricing?
• Is the market shifting?

If you win against some competitors but not others:

• What’s different about those matchups?
• Can you position more strongly in scenarios where you win?

Share these insights with product, marketing, and leadership. Competitive data from lost deals is valuable across the organization.

Competitor Reporting Deep Dive

Let’s explore what you can learn from the competitors report.

Overall Competitive Landscape

Start with the big picture:

• How many deals did you lose to competitors (vs. other reasons)?
• Who are your top 3-5 competitors by deal count?
• Who are your top 3-5 competitors by revenue lost?

These might be different lists. Losing many small deals to Competitor A might matter less than losing a few huge deals to Competitor B.

Trends Over Time

Use date filters to compare periods:

• Are you losing more or fewer deals to competitors this year vs. last?
• Is any particular competitor gaining or losing ground?
• Are there seasonal patterns?

Trends reveal whether your competitive position is improving or declining.

Product-Level Analysis

Filter by your products to see matchup-specific data:

• Which of your products face the most competition?
• Which competitors target which products?
• Where are you strongest and weakest competitively?

This might reveal that your enterprise product wins against Competitor A while your SMB product loses. That’s actionable information for positioning and sales training.

Owner-Level Analysis

Filter by sales rep to see individual patterns:

• Do certain reps lose to certain competitors more than others?
• Are there coaching opportunities based on competitive gaps?
• Do some reps have competitive advantages to share with the team?

Be thoughtful here — different reps might work different territories or deal sizes, which affects competitive dynamics.

Win-Back Success by Competitor

Cross-reference competitor data with recycling success:

• Which competitors have the best win-back rates?
• Are certain competitors easier to unseat than others?
• What’s the typical time to win-back for each competitor?

This helps prioritize. If you historically win back 20% of deals lost to Competitor A but only 5% from Competitor B, focus your re-engagement effort on Competitor A losses.

Managing Your Competitor List

Over time, your competitor list will need maintenance.

Adding New Competitors

The competitive landscape changes. New competitors emerge, or you encounter established players you hadn’t faced before.

Add competitors when:

• You lose a deal to someone not in your list
• You hear about a new player in your market
• A company pivots into your space

Editing Competitors

Update competitor information when:

• They rebrand or change names
• Their product lineup changes
• You want to refine product mappings

To edit:

1. Go to Settings > Competitors or access from the report
2. Click the menu icon next to the competitor
3. Click Edit
4. Update the fields
5. Click Save

Merging Duplicates

Sometimes the same competitor ends up in your list multiple times with slightly different names — “Competitor Inc” and “Competitor” as separate entries.

To merge:

1. Identify the duplicates
2. Decide which name to keep
3. Edit deals that reference the wrong name to use the correct one
4. Delete the duplicate competitor

This cleanup keeps your reporting clean.

Removing Competitors

Remove competitors when:

• They’re not actually a competitor (false positive from AI setup)
• They’ve gone out of business
• They’ve exited your market

To remove:

1. Go to Settings > Competitors
2. Click the menu icon next to the competitor
3. Click Delete
4. Confirm

Removing a competitor doesn’t delete the historical data — deals already recorded as lost to them retain that information. You just can’t select that competitor for new deals.

Competitors and Missing Features

Competitor tracking connects to missing feature tracking in an important way.

Sometimes you lose to a competitor because they have a feature you don’t. When recycling:

1. Record the competitor information (who won)
2. Also record the missing feature (what they have that you don’t)

This creates a complete picture: “We lost to Competitor X because they have Feature Y.”

When Feature Y ships, those deals become ready for callback. You can reach out with a message that addresses both: “We’ve built [Feature Y] — I know that was why you went with [Competitor X]. Worth another conversation?”

Tracking Non-Competitor Losses

Not every loss is to a competitor. The “Switched to” field captures alternative outcomes:

In-House Solution

The prospect decided to build their own instead of buying.

This is different from losing to a competitor. Re-engagement messaging might focus on:

• Total cost of ownership (building is often more expensive than it seems)
• Opportunity cost (their team could work on other things)
• Time to value (your solution is ready now)
• Ongoing maintenance burden

Track these separately from competitive losses to understand how often you face “build vs. buy” objections.

No Solution

The prospect decided not to solve the problem at all.

This means the pain wasn’t acute enough to prioritize. Re-engagement might work when:

• The problem gets worse
• Their situation changes (growth, new requirements)
• Budget becomes available for “nice to have” projects

These deals might need longer callback periods — the prospect wasn’t ready to act on this problem at all.

Unknown

You don’t know what the prospect chose.

This is honest when you genuinely don’t know. Maybe the prospect went dark without explanation. Maybe you heard they’re not moving forward but don’t know what they’re doing instead.

Unknown is better than guessing. It keeps your competitive data accurate and doesn’t inflate competitor numbers with speculation.

Common Questions

What if I don’t know which competitor won?

If you know it was a competitor but don’t know which one, you can still record “Switched to: Competitor” and leave the specific competitor blank. This captures that it was a competitive loss even without the detail.

What if the competitor isn’t in my list?

You can add competitors on the fly during recycling. When selecting a competitor, click + Add new to create one. You can fill in product details later.

Should I track every competitor or just major ones?

Track competitors you encounter regularly. If you lose one deal to a tiny competitor you’ve never heard of, you might skip adding them. If they come up again, add them.

The goal is useful data, not an exhaustive database. Focus on competitors that matter to your business.

How do I know if satisfaction data is accurate?

Satisfaction is inherently subjective. It’s based on what you’ve observed or heard. The prospect might seem unhappy during the sales process but turn out to be perfectly satisfied later, or vice versa.

Use satisfaction as one signal among many, not a definitive measure. If a prospect explicitly told you they have concerns about the competitor, that’s more reliable than your impression.

Can I track wins against competitors?

Rizer focuses on lost deals and recycling, so competitor tracking is primarily about losses. For win tracking, you’d typically use HubSpot’s own competitive fields on won deals.

That said, when a recycled deal is won back from a competitor, it’s tracked as Won after recycling — so you can see competitive win-backs in your success metrics.

How far back does competitor data go?

Competitor data goes back as far as your recycled deals do. If you recycled deals from two years ago and recorded competitor information, it’s in the report.

Historical data from before you started using Rizer won’t have competitor information unless you go back and add it to already-recycled deals.

Making Competitor Tracking a Habit

Competitor data is only valuable if it’s captured consistently. A few practices that help:

Capture It During Recycling

The best time to record competitor information is when you’re recycling the deal. The details are fresh, you might still have access to notes and emails, and it’s part of your workflow.

If you skip it during recycling and try to add it later, you’ll often forget or not have time.

Ask the Right Questions During Sales

Competitor information comes from your sales conversations. Build habits like:

• Asking prospects who else they’re evaluating
• Asking why they chose someone else when you lose
• Asking about contract terms when you can

The more information your reps capture during the sales process, the better your competitive data will be.

Review the Report Regularly

Make competitor data part of your regular reporting rhythm:

• Weekly: Glance at recent competitive losses
• Monthly: Review trends and patterns
• Quarterly: Deep dive into competitive strategy

Regular review keeps the data visible and actionable.

Share Insights Across Teams

Competitor data isn’t just for sales. Share insights with:

• Product — What features are competitors winning on?
• Marketing — Which competitors need better positioning against?
• Leadership — How is the competitive landscape evolving?

When insights lead to action, people are more motivated to capture good data.