Keeping Track of FareHarbor’s Competitors

A backlinks report is a spreadsheet of all of the websites that link to a competitor’s website. We use it to find new clients and to keep track of competitor client counts.

At the start of each quarter, the Lead Generation manager pulls a list of FareHarbor’s top competitors’ backlinks across the internet through BuiltWith. This special backlink application looks for competitor booking code, not just the home URL. This allows us to see a very targeted list. The different reports are combined into one large report of all the competitors’ clients’ websites. The next step is to use a full Close export to create four different report tabs.

Tab 1: New Companies

• This list consists of the URLs that are NOT in Close, nor have they been ruled “Bad Fit”, “Business Ended”, or otherwise in a previous competitor report.
• Business Development Associates (BDAs) claim rows by leaving their initials in the first column of a batch of leads.
• BDAs double check to see if the company is a good fit for FareHarbor and that it does not already exist in Close. If the company is a good fit and not already in Close, the lead is loaded. If the company is not a good fit or already in Close, then the reason for not loading is marked in the appropriate column.

Tab 2: Non-Live Leads Changing Softwares

• This tab contains all discrepancies between what software is recorded in the existing Close lead and what software code was found by BuiltWith.
• BDAs claim a group of URLs and verify which is correct, updating the Current Reservation Software custom field in the Close lead if necessary.

Tab 3: Status Under Review

• In this tab, the report states that competitor booking code was found on a Live client’s website.

• BDAs investigate whether that is true, and if competitor code is found, mark Status Under Review (SUR) in the lead by adding the Status Under Review Custom Activity and selecting “Left for Competitor”, “Website Down ” or whatever the best reason is.

  

Tab 4: Business (not) Ended

• This tab is often the shortest tab on the report.
• If competitor code is found on a company’s website that has been marked “Business Ended” in Close, BDAs switch the status back to “Potential” and add the elements of a correctly loaded potential lead.

Part of working in Lead Generation includes staying up to date on the news and industry in which we work. Here are some recommended strategies for doing so:

• Following social media pages of our competitors
  • A special account can be created for work purposes so that you do not have to use your personal device or personal social handles.
• Facebook Groups for tourism business management and/or reservation software
• Competitor blogs and websites
  • In any instance where a potential client is found while scouring competitor sites, reviews, publications, etc., leave a note in the correct Close lead. If the company is not yet in Close, add it.
  • If a company has a testimonial on the competitor’s website, we want to get that company on FareHarbor. If the company is not already in Close, load the company and if possible, include a link to the testimonial.
• Review platforms (such as Capterra or SoftwareAdvice)
  • If a competitor writes a case study on a client, leave a note in the correct Close lead with the review/link. If the company is not in Close, load it.
  • If the cons in the review are noteworthy, set a task for the Sales – Owner.
    • “See note: Capterra review – cons”