hwo to “check out” your competitor's software legally?

gasdg, great question. I've asked it and answered it myself.

What I've done was something similar to your idea, except that I didn't pay to anyone, it's a marketing technique called Mysterious Customer. I've just played along as being the customer. The reason for not using someone else was not economical but practical: there is no information loss because a middleman is not being used and during the software presentation you can ask important questions that the middleman most probably wouldn't.

I've also used another simple technique, I've talked with people that used or uses the software. And people love to complain, so you can gather the competition weaknesses and turn it in competitive advantages to you.

There's another way, that you already point out, you can buy a research of a specific topic, where you state what's the information that you want to be researched.

If you competitors offer software, most probably they have free trials or downloads for prospects (you can use your personal email address when registering for it).

I think that's the place to start. Sign-up for a free trial/download, and try their product out for yourself.

You're the best person to draw the right conclusions about your competitors software (you have all the background info to make a good SWOT analysis of each software). They will probably call you and email you to set-up a demo, or a sales call. When that happens you can either ignore the message (and they'll come back several times before they give up), or you can take the call and give them the "disqualification" criteria that makes you a non-prospect - say you don't have budget, purchase authority or the need for it. These are usually enough for any sales rep to disqualify the lead and leave you alone! :)

Hope this helps

I have been trying to do the same. I have two niche markets I have identified. With one, it is sufficient to search the internet for similar products (do a search as if you were searching for your own product), go to the products web page, and simply take inventory of its features. Most of them have demos and and free trials. I take advantage of ther free trials and play with the applications to see what the interfaces look like and help me pinpoint strengths and weaknesses of my own.

The second niche market I have identified is not this easy. My biggest source of info is going to be users of similar software or those who would be targeted by these offerings. Interviews are the most common source of requirements gathering. I am actually going to have to set up interviews with would be users...stressing that I am simply gathering info for educational and informational purposes (people have less tolerance for sales pitches). Most likely, people who are using the software will have been approached by a variety of companies, and will have the spec sheets and/or bids from competitors in order to choose. Most of the time, they don't mind showing you, at least, the spec sheets and briefly discussing what they did or did not like about it.

You must identify your stakeholders (managent, IT personnel, finance managers, and users), and then use a variety of techniques to obtain your info if you can't simply find it on the web. I am lucky to still have my MBA text books that show me the specific techniques to use, but you can ook up "requirements gathering" techniques in order to make the best use of your interviews, holding JAD (Joint Application Design) sessions with stakeholders, designing questionnaires, and carefully analyzing the collected info.