Is Your Product Obviously Awesome? with Expert April Dunford

Have you ever wondered why, despite having amazing products, customers still struggle to understand your company's value?

April Dunford, an authority on product positioning, discusses the critical role of positioning in sales and marketing.

Known for her first book "Obviously Awesome" and her expertise in positioning, April shares her insights on why companies often struggle with positioning their products. She emphasizes that most companies have positioning, but it's not deliberate, leading to misalignment and missed opportunities. April highlights the transformative power of effective positioning, using an illustrative story from her early career where repositioning a product from enterprise CRM to CRM for investment banks led to significant business growth and acquisition by a major player.

The episode underscores the common disconnect between how companies perceive their products and how customers understand them. April points out the importance of involving sales teams in positioning discussions, as they have direct insights into customer perceptions and competitors. And describes in her second book, Sales Pitch, how to translate the marketing work done for positioning into sales speak.

April advises CEOs to routinely reassess their company's positioning, even if it seems satisfactory, to ensure alignment with market realities. She stresses the need for a cross-functional team approach to redefine positioning involving sales, marketing, and product teams.

The episode serves as a crucial reminder for CEOs and sales leaders of the importance of clear and strategic positioning in today's competitive market. April Dunford's insights offer valuable guidance on how to approach this process thoughtfully and effectively to drive business growth and customer satisfaction.

This podcast is a must listen and her books are both must reads.

Chapters

05:26 Lack of methodology and squishiness surrounding positioning in marketing

0:09:02 Naming of April Dunford's books: "Obviously Awesome" and "Sales Pitch"

11:12 Importance of aligning positioning with customer perception

14:01 Components of positioning: competition, differentiation, value, customer,

market

19:07 Example of a company positioned as Enterprise CRM but found success in investment banking

22:36 Shifting positioning to target specific industries led to success

25:51 Understanding the buyer's perspective and guiding them through the buying process

31:20 Buyers are overwhelmed with information and struggle to make decisions

33:56 Poor positioning and difficult buying process on websites.

39:07 Cross functional team approach to positioning.

42:45 Leveraging product knowledge to identify unique value propositions.

44:59 Characteristics of a Best Fit customer and market categories

46:13 Mapping positioning to a sales narrative for effective storytelling

Social Links

You can learn more about and connect with April Dunford in the links below.

Connect with April on LinkedIn:

(99+) April Dunford | LinkedIn

Check out April's website:

April Dunford - Positioning for B2B Tech Companies

Check out April's Podcast:

Positioning With April Dunford

Check out April's Newsletter

Positioning with April Dunford | Substack

You can learn more about and connect with Alice Heiman in the links below.

Connect with Alice on LinkedIn:

(99+) Alice Heiman | LinkedIn

Check out Alice’s website:

Alice Heiman - Alice Heiman

About Guest

I spent the first 25 years of my career as a startup executive, running marketing, product, and sales teams. I led teams at seven successful B2B technology startups. Most of those startups were acquired (DataMirror to IBM, Janna Systems to Siebel Systems, then SAP, Watcom to Sybase via Powersoft, to name a few), and I ran big teams at IBM, Siebel, Sybase, and others. The total of those acquisitions is more than two billion dollars. Across that journey, I positioned, re-positioned, and launched 16 products, and created dozens of sales pitches.

I have a deep curiosity about what makes the difference between a winning product and a loser. Developing a systematic way of positioning technology products and companies has become my life's work. As a consultant, I have had the privilege of working with more than 200 companies, allowing me to go even deeper and broaden my positioning expertise. The bulk of my work is with growth-stage startups and larger technology companies. Companies where the stakes are high - and w...