Take a close look at the competition and tailor your marketing in response to what you see. It doesn't matter whether your business opponents are doing it all right or are in worse shape than you, you can learn from them.

One automobile dealer keeps close tabs on leading rivals by getting their Dun & Bradstreet financial and business operations reports. When one of the dealers key competitors started slashing prices and offering heavy discounts the dealer matched the moves with no worries. Ordinarily he would have avoided a price war, but from the D&B reports, he knew that his rival couldn't sustain losses for long. Since he had deeper pockets, his company was able to survive and ultimately broaden its market share.

"The biggest risk in staying at the top is what I think of as the 'successful company disease,' — starting to think that the customer's wrong or the competitors aren't as good. That's a dangerous thing. So we try to have a culture that's continually challenging. If the young engineer who's spent two years out in the field comes back in and says there's something wrong with a product, we listen." — George Chamillard, CEO of Teradyne

Securing financial reports on your competitors is only one way to keep on top of the marketplace. Other excellent sources of information are trade publications, industry associations and area business groups such as the local Chamber of Commerce.

In addition, you can often get a wealth of information by talking with your suppliers. The owner of one personnel agency even bought stock in her competition so she could get the company's annual report and other valuable documents. 

Hiring employees from the competition can also yield invaluable intelligence, but be wary about asking them to break legal agreements that prevent them from disclosing proprietary information.

The Internet is another great way to find out what your opponents are doing. Check out their Web sites and any sites that cover your industry.

Of course, there's always the direct approach — just ask. You can't expect direct competitors to reveal trade secrets but they might swap advice.