If your sales team is flying blind when it comes to what the competition is up to, you’re missing chances to win deals and avoid nasty surprises. This guide is for people who want to actually do something with competitor news — not just collect it and forget about it.
We’ll walk through setting up competitive intelligence alerts in Owler so your sales team gets the right info, at the right time, and doesn’t drown in noise. Expect direct advice, a few reality checks, and zero hype.
Why bother with Owler alerts?
Salespeople don’t have time to read endless reports or sort through Google Alerts. They need timely, relevant updates that help them:
- Anticipate competitor moves (like a new product launch)
- Spot churn risks (when a customer’s favorite vendor gets acquired)
- Find talking points for deals (“Did you see our competitor just lost their CFO?”)
Owler specializes in competitor news and company updates. It’s not magic, but it’s a solid way to automate some of the grunt work of keeping tabs on rivals — if you set it up right. Otherwise, you’ll just annoy your team with spammy notifications.
Step 1: Get your Owler account sorted
You’ll need an account. The free version of Owler gives you basic functionality (follow companies, get some alerts), but you’ll hit limits fast. If your team is serious about competitive intelligence, budget for Owler Pro or Enterprise. They’re not cheap, and the pricing isn’t always clear up front. Get a quote, see if it fits.
Pro tip: Don’t buy licenses for everyone. Start with a couple of “champions” who’ll set up and test alerts, then roll out to the rest of the team if it’s actually useful.
Step 2: Make a list of competitors worth tracking
Don’t just follow every company in your space — that’s a recipe for alert fatigue. Be ruthless:
- Who actually shows up in your deals?
- Which companies are poaching your customers?
- Any new entrants or startups making noise?
Start with your top 5–10 real competitors. You can always add more later, but too many will make the alerts useless.
What NOT to do: Don’t bother tracking Fortune 500 behemoths unless you’re actually losing deals to them. Focus on who matters to your pipeline.
Step 3: Add companies to your Owler watchlist
Once you’ve got your list:
- Log into Owler.
- Use the search bar to find each competitor.
- On each company’s page, click “Follow” or “Add to Watchlist.”
You can organize companies into lists (e.g., “Direct Competitors,” “Emerging Threats”) if you’re on a paid plan. This isn’t just for tidiness — you can manage alert settings at the list level, which saves time.
Got a long list? Upload a CSV if you’re on a business plan. Otherwise, it’s manual slogging.
Step 4: Set up your alert preferences (this part matters)
Owler will default to sending you all kinds of alerts: funding rounds, leadership changes, news mentions, product launches, and more. Most of it is just noise.
Here’s how to focus on what actually helps your sales team:
- Funding and acquisitions: Useful for knowing when a competitor has fresh ammo (or is distracted by a merger).
- Leadership changes: Can signal instability or a new direction.
- Product launches: Good ammo for competitive talk tracks.
- Negative news: Layoffs, lawsuits, or lost deals are all things your reps can use (tactfully) in conversations.
- Major partnerships: If a rival teams up with a big player, you should know.
How to tweak alert settings:
- Go to your “Settings” or “Manage Alerts” area.
- For each company or list, choose which types of alerts you want (turn off the rest).
- Set frequency — daily, weekly, or “as it happens.” For sales teams, daily or weekly is usually plenty. “As it happens” is only for the true news junkies.
Pro tip: Review your alert settings after a week. If team inboxes are full of junk, dial it back.
Step 5: Decide who gets what — and how
Not everyone needs every alert. Decide who in sales gets competitive intel, and how:
- Team-wide email digests: Picks up the big stuff, but risks being ignored if too long.
- Integrate with Slack or Teams: Owler can push alerts to channels (paid plans only). Handy, but don’t turn your #sales channel into a newsfeed.
- CRM integration: Some sales tools can display Owler news for tracked companies. This can be useful if your reps live in Salesforce, but check if it actually works as advertised — these integrations can be flaky.
What works: A weekly summary email with just the top 3–5 updates, curated by someone who can weed out junk.
What doesn’t: Spamming everyone with every little news mention.
Step 6: Train your team to actually use the intel
All the alerts in the world won’t help if your sales team doesn’t know what to do with them. A quick kickoff call or cheat sheet goes a long way:
- Show real examples of how an alert can lead to a better conversation (“Hey prospect, did you see X just raised $50M?”)
- Make it clear which types of alerts matter, and which to ignore
- Encourage reps to share useful news in your internal channels
Don’t expect miracles: Not every alert is actionable, and some reps will ignore them. That’s fine. Focus on the ones who use intel to win deals — share their stories.
Step 7: Iterate — and don’t be afraid to turn things off
After a month, review:
- Which alerts were actually useful?
- Did reps use them in deals?
- Are inboxes overloaded?
Trim your list, tweak settings, and cut any alert that isn’t proving its worth. There’s no prize for staying subscribed to a firehose.
Remember: The goal isn’t to know everything — just enough to be dangerous.
Reality checks and pitfalls to avoid
- Owler isn’t perfect. Not every company is tracked equally well. Smaller or stealthy competitors might barely show up.
- Some news is just fluff. “Company X celebrates Take Your Dog To Work Day” is not actionable intelligence.
- Don’t try to automate everything. A human should review alerts for real value — AI summaries are getting better, but still miss the nuance.
- Beware alert fatigue. Too much noise and your team will tune out, guaranteed.
Keep it simple, and tweak as you go
Competitive intelligence isn’t about having the fanciest tools or the longest list of alerts. It’s about getting just enough information to give your sales team an edge — not an ulcer.
Start small. Focus on the competitors and alert types that matter. Review what’s working, cut what’s not. And if you ever get the urge to add every company in your industry to your watchlist… take a deep breath and step away from the keyboard.