Crayon customers Aaron Wood, Director of Technical Marketing at Box and Brianna Cabral, Product Marketing Manager at Arena by PTC came together to discuss the top findings from the State of Competitive Intelligence report. (Check out the webinar recording!)

Below are 5 takeaways from the session:

1. Executive Buy-In is a Must for Compete

In the realm of competitive intelligence (CI), executive buy-in can be the linchpin to success. During the webinar both Aaron and Brianna highlighted the importance of having executive sponsorship to drive competitive programs forward. Without this crucial support, CI initiatives will struggle to gain the necessary traction and resources.

Executive buy-in facilitates better alignment across departments. For example, having a senior executive actively participate in enablement sessions enhances the credibility and perceived importance of CI efforts among the sales team. Creating a culture of compete starts at the top!

2. Want Better Sales Enablement? Try Office Hours 

One tactic both Brianna and Aaron emphasized was running dedicated office hours for the sales team — informal, recurring sessions where reps can bring competitive questions, get real-time feedback, and workshop specific deal scenarios with CI experts. These sessions don’t just address urgent challenges in the moment, they also foster a culture of continuous learning, reinforcing competitive acumen across the team and driving better execution in active pipeline.

3. Call Recordings: A Goldmine of Competitive Intelligence

Traditionally, competitive intel efforts focused on web-based sources. But leading teams are shifting their attention to a richer, often untapped resource: conversations with buyers and sellers — specifically, call recordings.

Both Brianna and Aaron are leaning heavily into this approach. Brianna’s team integrates Gong calls directly into Crayon, enabling them to aggregate and analyze conversation data at scale. The payoff? Access to high-signal insights that are notoriously hard to find elsewhere, like competitor pricing. By tapping into call recordings, their team is uncovering frontline intelligence that paints a more accurate, real-world picture of the competitive landscape.

4. Battlecards, Reinvented by AI

Battlecards have always been a cornerstone of competitive enablement but the static, traditional format often struggles to keep pace with today’s dynamic deal cycles. AI is transforming that.

Aaron shared how his team has evolved their approach: instead of treating battlecards as one-off assets, they’ve turned them into living sources of truth designed to work hand-in-hand with AI. The goal? When a rep asks a question about a competitor, the AI responds by pulling directly from the most up-to-date, vetted content in the battlecard. No guesswork. No hallucinations. Just accurate intel delivered exactly when it’s needed.

5. Measuring Competitive Success Isn’t Optional

According to the State of CI report, less than half of compete teams today have KPIs in place — a major gap when it comes to proving the value of CI. During the webinar, both Brianna and Aaron underscored the importance of tracking metrics that tie enablement efforts directly to business outcomes.

Some of the key metrics to consider: influenced revenue, competitive win rates, and competitive pipeline. Even if your team is starting from scratch, the advice is simple — just start. Track win rate against a single key competitor using the data you have, even if it’s imperfect. Establishing a baseline is better than flying blind, and it sets the foundation for a more mature, measurable compete program over time.

Want to dive directly into the findings from the State of Competitive Intelligence benchmark report? Download the report. And if you're curious to get more hot takes from Aaron and Brianna from the State of CI webinar, listen to the recording.