Is It Cake or a Muffin? How to Position Your Product and Drive More Sales | April Dunford (bestselling author and advisor)

April Dunford is an expert at product positioning. She’s advised hundreds of B2B companies on how they can make their products Obviously Awesome — that’s also the title of her bestselling book on positioning.

On this episode of CRAFTED., April shares tips on how you can make your product standout and how you can drive more sales — that’s the focus of her latest book, Sales Pitch.

April says great positioning starts when you truly understand the answer to this question: “If you didn't exist, what would a customer do?”

And the answer may surprise you: “We lose half of our deals in B2B to ‘do nothing!’”

Do nothing – the status quo – is a fierce competitor and April has identified ways to help customers gain the confidence they need to make a scary purchase decision (e.g. buying a new CRM). Key here: don’t sell to your customer; help them buy.

April is fun and has a knack for sharing colorful anecdotes and analogies that will stick with you. e.g. Tune in to find out what buying a toilet has to do with B2B SaaS.

Takeaways from this episode:

• Positioning defines how your product is the best in the world at delivering something to a defined group of people
• Great positioning starts with understanding the competition. Not what you think the competition is, but what your customers actually evaluate you against. e.g. Is your product cake (dessert) or a muffin (breakfast)? They’re both made of bread and pretty similar, but they’ve got totally different competitors.
• Startups often have great positioning at the outset, but then it slips over time as new competitors copy what you do and your uniqueness gets lost. You need to pay attention to your positioning as the market changes.
• Don’t sell! Help your customers buy. Don’t assume they know how to! Imagine you’re selling a CRM... When was the last time your customer bought one? Ten years ago? If ever. Help them contextualize your product among the others out there.
• Lead with business outcomes! Not features.

Key Moments:

• (00:00) - Introduction
• (02:20) - - Working with founders, being "the positioning expert", and why positioning is so tricky to get right
• (05:22) - - How to make your product "Obviously Awesome"
• (07:18) - - The five elements of great positioning
• (15:59) - - Why "do nothing" is your strongest competitor: 50% of B2B deals are lost to "do nothing"
• (17:43) - - Don't sell: Rather, "help your customers buy" (and what buying a toilet has to do with this)
• (29:50) - - April positions herself: How she grew her personal brand and narrowed in on her solopreneur offering
• (33:16) - - Outro

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CRAFTED. is produced by Modern Product Minds, where CRAFTED. host Dan Blumberg and team can help you take a new product from zero to one... and beyond. We specialize in early stage product discovery, growth, and experimentation.

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