Case Study 09 / GTM Strategy
Mapping a dominant competitor's customer base to find where to attack
A customer and competitive intelligence report on a leading maritime ERP vendor with 100+ claimed clients verified 110+ named accounts, graded every one by evidence strength, mapped an estimated 5,100+ vessel footprint and identified the workflow gap and regions where a smaller challenger could win.
Founder track record: this work was led by Clarafold's founder before founding Clarafold, while working as marketing manager at a maritime compliance software company. The client's name is withheld until it approves publication; every figure comes from its own systems. Clarafold client engagements are added as they complete.
- named accounts verified
- 110+
- confidence grades per account
- 3
- vessel footprint mapped
- 5,100+
- clear gap identified to target
- 1
01 · Client
Maritime compliance software company
Maritime compliance software and services company competing with established maritime ERP vendors. Name withheld until the client approves publication.
The challenge
Competing against an incumbent with a decade of referenceable deployments, the company needed to know where that incumbent was strong, where it was exposed, and which of its customers might be reachable, rather than guessing from a logo wall.
02 · System
What existed before.
- Competitive knowledge based on anecdote and conference conversations
- No list of which accounts used which competitor modules
- No evidence standard: rumour and fact carried equal weight
03 · Intervention
What was built and run.
Set an evidence standard first
High = official announcement or case study; Medium = logo on the official client page plus a corroborating signal; Low = logo only or public inference.
Cross-referenced every source
Vendor client pages, press releases, trade media, testimonials and job postings, reconciled into one verified account database.
Mapped footprint and momentum
Deployment sizes, module mix, segment coverage and the regions where adoption was growing fastest.
Turned findings into strategy
Five strategic observations for the CEO, ending in where the incumbent was weakest and which segments and regions to prioritise.
04 · Outcome
What changed.
A verified database of 110+ named accounts, each graded High, Medium or Low confidence and tied to its sources.
A clear picture of the incumbent's moat (a large captive anchor customer) and its upsell path (a cloud-native rewrite being pushed through legacy accounts).
One clear gap: the incumbent is strongest in technical, crewing and maintenance workflows and weakest in commercial and chartering workflows, plus the fastest-growing region to watch. Both are now inputs to account selection.
05 · Lessons
What we would tell you.
- Grade your evidence. A competitor database is only useful if the sales team knows which entries they can rely on in a conversation.
- Look for the incumbent's upgrade cycle. Forced migrations are when loyal customers are most willing to look around.
- Account selection starts with knowing who already owns the account.
Put It To Work