When people shop around, they consciously or even subconsciously pit their desired product against other choices. If you're in sales, you can nudge their decision by whipping up a product comparison sheet highlighting why your product rocks.

This tutorial teaches you how to create detailed product comparison sheets that highlight your product's advantages over competitors' products.

In this guide, you'll learn how to:

• Identify comparison criteria
• Create a comparison table highlighting your product's perks over the competition.
• Publish your comparison document

Step 1 - Identify comparison criteria

The first question you should ask yourself before creating a practical comparison sheet is, “What do my buyers value most?” The answer is not as easy as you might think. You can achieve this through market analysis, competitive research, and customer interviews/reviews. 

Start by interviewing potential buyers to gain insights into their pain points and needs. You can ask Claude to provide the questions you will ask your potential buyers. It will help you guide these discussions:

Prompt:

We sell [ product/service]. List three practical close-ended questions I can ask potential buyers to help me better understand what they value most in their [Product name/description].

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Claude provided three targeted questions to help me find key buyers’ priorities. 

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Researching Market Data

You can use AI to help out with your market research. Here, we will use Perplexity as it's the perfect AI tool to do research on the internet.

‍Prompt:

Find relevant market research related to [product/service]. Include spending, value proposition, pain points, and real needs. Research the web and find reliable links. 

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Perplexity gave us a detailed answer complete with clickable links to popular websites. 

The pain points are really insightful. It provided some real-world information we can use to tweak our HR management software offering and get ahead of our competition. 

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Competitive Benchmarking

You can evaluate your competitors by finding what they prioritize and how they position their products to their customers. Successful businesses often have a clear plan for positioning their products in a way that makes the most sense to their customers. So, they highlight it by placing it in the front and center of their website. 

To get an idea of what the competitors are targeting, ask Perplexity to give you a rundown of the targeted focus of your competitors.

Prompt:

Study 10 top [product/service] companies. Focus on the key features they emphasize, paying close attention to their H1 and H2 headers for insights.

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Step 2 - Create a comparison table

Now that your research is done creating a product comparison sheet is time. You can use it as a PDF to share with prospects or feature it directly on your website.

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Tell Claude about your product.

Before asking Claude to provide a comparison table, you must supply it with your core value proposition so it can position your company favorably amongst competitors. 

Prompt:

Develop a product comparison document for [product/service]. However, before creating a comparison table, here are details about my product:

Name of the Company [company name]
Key differentiation: [differentiation]
Popular features of our software: [list features]
Popular features we do not offer: [list features]

Acknowledge when you’re ready to proceed.

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Create your Comparison table.

Prompt: 

Compare [company] with three leading payroll software tools designed specifically for remote teams. Position [company] in a favorable light compared to the competition.

Format the table with features along the left side, followed by 4 columns, starting with [company] and then 1 for each competitor. Put a checkmark under the supported features and leave a blank space for the unsupported features. Intentionally highlight features [company] offers but the competitors do not. Do not highlight features that [company] does not support.

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Claude created an excellent comparison table. Remember, you can always edit it by asking follow-up questions. 

Step 3 - Publish your comparison document

To share this comparison with prospects, you can either display it on your website or save it as a PDF. Just copy the table into a Google Doc or Word file and export it as a PDF.  

For better context, add a short introduction above the table to explain the comparison.

Prompt:

I’ll be showing this table to prospects. Can you help write an introduction to go above it that highlights our company’s value and sets it apart from the competition?

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Claude added the introductory paragraph to the comparison table:

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There you go! You have researched the competitive landscape for your product and framed it effectively. Even if you’re a small company, you can position yourselves effectively against your competitors, especially industry leaders. 

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