Read the original at Lenny’s Newsletter ↗lennysnewsletter.com · subscriber post
By Lenny Rachitsky · lennysnewsletter.com · @lennysan on X · YouTube · LinkedIn
Lenny's paid guest post by April Dunford, a positioning expert who has worked with 300+ B2B companies, covers four advanced roadblocks that derail positioning work. It argues that disagreement over competitors, product pessimism, poorly defined differentiated value, and unclear company positioning are common but manageable with cross-functional alignment and a prospect-centered view.
Subscriber post — summary only01Key takeaways
- Positioning gets derailed when teams disagree on who they compete with; ground it in the prospect's view.
- Status quo and no-decision outcomes often account for most lost deals, so address the current solution directly.
- Product pessimism can blind teams to real strengths; bring sales insight into the room to counter it.
- Differentiated value must connect to a buyer-understood outcome, typically revenue growth or cost reduction.
- Keep differentiated value to one clear reason to choose you, not a long list of features.
“The prospect's view of competitive alternatives is the only one that matters.”April Dunford · Lenny’s Newsletter
02Frameworks mentioned
Summary and takeaways written by PM Atlas; quotes are short excerpts. © the original author.