April Dunford drops advanced B2B positioning playbook for noisy markets

The Gist

• April Dunford's positioning framework helped 300+ B2B companies break through noise
• New guide tackles 4 common roadblocks teams face when refining positioning
• Updated 'Obviously Awesome' edition includes plug-and-play templates for immediate use

• Disagreement about what to position against is the root of most weak positioning in B2B tech companies.
• Product pessimism blinds teams to their competitive strengths and prevents effective positioning.
• Differentiated value is often poorly defined, making it hard for prospects to understand why a product is unique.
• Founders may have biases that skew positioning, especially if they are less involved in current market dynamics.
• Sales teams often overlook the status quo as a competitor, despite it being a major reason for lost deals.
• Positioning should focus on near-term competitive advantages rather than hypothetical future scenarios.

• Reframe competitor discussions by asking, 'If we didn’t exist, what would a prospect do?' to focus on real-world alternatives.
• Include experienced sales voices in positioning exercises to ground discussions in actual deal dynamics.
• Focus positioning on near-term product strengths and competitive advantages, not hypothetical future scenarios.
• Challenge overly pessimistic product thinking by exposing product teams to sales insights about why customers buy.

• 50% (Vendors typically lose about half their sales opportunities to whatever the prospect is currently using (status quo).)
• 80% (Some companies lose over 80% of deals to the status quo solution.)
• 300 (April Dunford has worked with over 300 B2B companies to nail their positioning.)
• 10 years (April Dunford has spent 10 years developing a repeatable positioning process for B2B tech companies.)