After forming a competitive intelligence program in a major telecommunications firm and elevating another in the airline industry, Ellen Naylor founded The Business Intelligence Source in 1993. Our analysis helps companies beat the competition and make informed decisions about present and future opportunities. 

 

Today we focus on two area:

1. Training or coaching you be an effective conversationalist – who gets what you seek every time you speak with another human. 

 

2. Coaching you to develop your in-house Win/Loss program.

 

In the early days we focused on primary collection and analysis, mostly through cold calling. We’ve always been successful at getting hard-to-obtain information, as long as it’s ethical to obtain. In fact, we have trained companies on how to collect information by talking to a human for over 25 years. This includes elicitation training. We teach you how to gain trust, almost immediately, and to be a good listener. Those who benefit the most from this training are sales personnel, competitive intelligence, product marketing and market research. 

 

Gradually, we expanded to help companies develop their competitive intelligence and Win/Loss analysis programs. With our strong sales background, we’ve been successful in helping you develop a Win/Loss program. It’s often a challenge to get Sales buy in to call your customers and prospects. Since we “talk sales,” sales personnel trust us since we have lived their world and understand the delicate relationships that Sales forges with your customers.

 

In 2016, we published the award-winning book, Win/Loss Analysis: How to Capture and Keep the Business You Want. Remove the guesswork by conducting Win/Loss interviews with your customers and prospects. We describe 12 steps to form your sustainable Win/Loss program. If you don’t connect with your customers, you won’t learn how they truly perceive your company or the competition. Companies that conduct Win/Loss analysis regularly can expect win rates to improve by 15 – 30% Not to mention improved customer retention and satisfaction! 

 

In 2025, we published Loosen Their Lips: How to Capture the Information You Seek During a Conversation. In this evolving world of AI, many have forgotten how to connect with another human during a conversation. We’re so wrapped up in the on-line world that human connection has been devalued. This is a reminder that you are important and that humans still run business. People do business with people they trust. You will learn how to connect with a fellow human, quickly, ethically and efficiently with kindness. And he will tell you what you’re looking for during your conversation, information that is not on the Internet. You will develop your human network with every conversation. You will gain people’s trust! 

 

Both these books are “how to” focused.

 

Loosen Their Lips will teach you how to conduct a conversation step by step, so you acquire what you seek during a conversation. Bonus: These tactics also work in your personal life! 

 

Likewise, we wrote Win/Loss Analysis to help you set up your own Win/Loss program!

 

​