Product positioning is vital, but how to define it properly and how to create sales deck based on that?
PM findings #4: Step-by-step exercises for product positioning and Sales deck structure, by April Dunford, “Obviously awesome” book
👋 Hi all,
I am posting weekly story to highlight interesting findings in Project Management, Startups, also my own experiences and lessons learnt. I hope this would add value reading.
🎳 Product positioning importance and exercises suggested by April Dunford in her book “Obviously awesome”
I was looking for materials about product positioning and market placement and found this book by April Dunford “Obviously awesome”, which is talking about the importance of proper positioning and also sharing stepped guide based on her experience how to conduct the positioning discussion and how to make the decisions.
Book could have been written shorter tbh, so wanted to share with you my summary of the process and key highlights.
Importance of product positioning and traps we get into
Nowadays it is getting harder and harder to gain proper place in the market for newly created solution-products, hence proper positioning of the product is really vital. Most of the time failure of the product is not due to its implementation or feature set, but failing in getting clients and getting the right clients. And its also not only about the product itself but also the context around.
Whenever we categorize our product, users already expect some features and behavior by default based on the existing market players solutions and in case if we position ourselves as a well known category (lets say email client) and we don’t have some features users might get disappointed and will be unsure why they should use the product. So looking deeper and properly in positioning, can be key for success.
Even a world-class product, poorly positioned, can fail.
In this great illustrated example from book, baker came up with solution of having chocolate muffin on a stick as a solution which will help clients to eat it easier on the go. Initially baker was making a cake, so when he was trying to pitch his new idea he was naming it as “chocolate cake on the stick”, which obviously sounded something creepy for potential clients, because we have some perception how chocolate cake should look like and imagining on the stick, wasn’t smth attractive enough to try. However renaming and repositioning it as lollipop made out of cake, solved this issue.
This is very common for tech solutions as well. So as April mention’s in the book, there are 2 main traps that product makers fall into:
Trap 1: We get stuck on the idea of what we intended to build, and we don’t realize that our product has already become something else.
Trap 2: We carefully designed our product for a market, but that market has changed.
So considering these 2 common traps, it is important to be in the moment and current flow of the target users and the market, not to get stuck with initial thoughts, especially in tech solutions that we iterate and keep on changing our products to reach better market fit.
I’d say its about being Agile in product definition and positioning as well.
10 steps process of Product positioning
I have putted together steps and notes suggested by April Dunford in a document, which you can download from here in PDF format and images so you can save easily.
Positioning sales narrative
Once product position is defined, that is being used as input for sales narrative or sales deck.
April also shares suggested structure of building the sales deck. She suggests to have the following steps:
- Define the problem — what is the issue your solution is working for?
- Explain how customers are attempting to solve it now. What solutions do they use?
- Demonstrate where these current solutions fall short. You’re setting the stage here.
- Then transport us to the perfect world. What characteristics does a great solution have? Showcase both the customer wants and your point of view — what you think an outstanding solution is.
- Introduce the product and position it in the relevant market category. This gives your audience a frame of reference.
- Talk about each value theme with a bit of detail — explain the features, show proof, add a relevant customer example.
- Handle common objections before the audience voices them out.
- Set the next steps — you end with a call to action relevant to your solution. This might be setting up a demo, starting a trial, or whatever shows true commitment.
Slide deck with detailed instructions can be found on April’s website.
I have read the book on Scribd. When you register you get 30 days of free trial, with my referral link you can have additional 30 days, feel free to use it: https://www.scribd.com/g/8vhu6v
So, what do you think?
Have you had similar struggles? What’s your experience? Are you doing something different? Maybe have some questions ? Reply to me, so we have our conversation going and I can learn from you as well.
Share this
Know someone who is also interested in this? Forward this to them.
You can also register to receive new stories notification in your inbox. Subscribe here
