The Dos and Don’ts of Competitive Enablement | Dejan Gajsek, Founder & CEO, Grow + Scale

This week on Product Marketing Life, Mark is joined by Dejan Gajsek, CEO and co-founder of Grow + Scale. Dejan shares his career journey, beginning with marketing roles at early-stage startups in Slovenia, before making the leap to found Grow + Scale – a competitive intelligence program provider for B2B and SaaS technology companies. Dejan takes us through the "dos and don'ts" of setting up competitive enablement programs, advising product marketers to start small and focus on one or two key competitors. He recommends creating a handful of assets like battlecards, and suggests leading with an "atomic battlecard" that covers 80% of scenarios to avoid overwhelming sales with too much information.

If sales reps aren't using the new collateral, Dejan suggests diagnosing why by talking to them directly, getting leader endorsement, and highlighting successes from deals won using the assets. Looking ahead, he sees competitive intelligence remaining critical as competition increases. While AI is a hot topic, Dejan emphasizes preserving the human aspect of selling.

Key talking points

For product marketers starting a competitive enablement program, Dejan advises starting small – focusing on 1-2 key competitors, ideal users like younger sales reps, and a few priority assets like battlecards.He shares tips on battle card creation - start with an "atomic battlecard" covering 80% of scenarios. Don't overwhelm sales reps with too much info.If sales reps don't use new enablement collateral, diagnose why – talk to them, get leader endorsement, and highlight successes.Looking ahead, competitive intelligence will remain critical as competition increases. AI is hot but be sure to preserve the human aspect of selling.