Benchmark Methodology

Use this skill to turn a scoped competitor set into comparable, defensible scores. Each competitor is assessed on the same nine dimensions, with explicit 1, 5 rubrics, then captured in a uniform profile card. Consistency is the point: scores are only useful if the same evidence would earn the same number for any competitor.

When to Activate

• A scoped, tiered competitor set from competitive-platform-analysis is ready to score.
• Need comparable, evidence-anchored scores across competitors, not gut-feel rankings.
• Client's strategic tension (the paired axes defining their target white-space) has been established.
• Preparing to produce profile cards for assembly in competitive-report-structure.

Client positioning brief (establish first)

Before scoring, establish the client's positioning brief. It supplies:

• Strategic tension, the two axes (e.g., memorability × hireability) whose intersection marks the client's target white-space. Dimension 9 is always the client's named tension; report both poles separately, never averaged.
• Differentiator, what makes the client's moat. This informs which dimensions matter most for the client's positioning argument.
• Brand balance, the intended mix of distinct strategic emphases. Strategic recommendations must not break this balance without flagging it.

Why these dimensions

The client competes on a specific tension held across two poles, not on service breadth. The dimensions are weighted to reflect that moat. Two dimensions, the tension poles, are scored separately and never averaged together, because the client's strategic question is precisely whether a rival achieves both simultaneously.

The nine dimensions (with weights)

Weights guide synthesis emphasis, not a single blended score (avoid a false composite, see Bias controls). Sum = 100%.