Positioning your solution for everyone? Then you're positioning it for no one.

A 5-3-1 is a planning framework that works through 5 questions:

1. What's the problem you're solving?

2. Who's the customer that you're solving it for?

3. What's your solution?

4. What's the right strategic positioning?

5. What's the plan and execution to get there?

You know what problem you're solving, and who you’re solving it for, and what solution to offer.  Now let’s review how to approach strategically positioning the company in the market.

This step is the centerpiece of any aligned strategic formula.  It acts as the connection point between the current inputs (where you’re coming from) and the outputs (where are you going and how will you get there).  When I meet with clients, this is the discussion that has the largest variation in time/effort.  You never know where it will go when you first enter the room.  There are more options than people realize and the conversation is critical for getting on the right path.

The goal of positioning is to set you apart from competitors and make your overall strategy a strategic one. It has to make you stand out to customers by emphasizing what you're really great at and keeping you away from the areas where you're less unique/strong. The focus is on making sure that all those pieces line up really, tightly and crisply, so that you can be clear about what you are and what you're not, so that you fit into the market a certain way.

And here’s a critical point.  You may not think you need to fit into the market a certain way.  You believe that that you have lots to offer to many different segments or markets, but customers won’t see it that way.  They require simplicity and context.  While your solution is everything to you, it means nothing to them.  You are one of a thousand different decisions they will make in a week, so, if you make it hard on them by not being clear about what you are and for who, they will skip over you and choose the solution suited specifically for them (even if you believe it is inferior).

Your strategic positioning will guide every action and how you communicate internally and with the outside world leading to strategy realignment.  

Does everybody internally know what we are and who we're talking to, and how that's different, and how these pieces fit together, and how you know how we stand out in our own way? Because it really helps to drive all the key decisions that will happen afterward, and really help to point you forward.

The clearer and simpler you make it, the easier it will be for others to describe you.  Make it easy for them to take that and run with it and communicate it to the next person and the next person.  They do the hard work for you.

Ok.  So we’ve discussed the importance of a clear and distinct positioning.  Now let’s go through how to put that together. There are 3 key elements to a positioning statement: i) the accepted customer belief (ACB); ii) the benefit; and iii) the reason to believe (RTB).  Those are the outputs we’re working toward when we start building a positioning.  Of note, while those three items are fairly simple and straightforward, there are a ton of other factors that get included when you’re building positioning and I’ll cover those after.

What is an accepted customer belief?

The accepted customer belief is the current state in a customer’s mind.  I often like to phrase this in terms of a wish statement – For example, “I wish I had an assistant that would step in and do all the crappy things I don’t like doing”.  There are probably a number of potential ACBs for your customer in the general category you’re in.  List them all down.  Don’t worry about getting the wording right to begin with.  It’s way more important that you have the voice of the customer as the starting point for your positioning.

The benefit comes next.  What are all the things you can do for the customer to solve their various ACBs?  What I always find interesting here is that, in the absence of the ACBs, the benefits come forward as features that were created for the product.  But, by starting with the ACB, it’s much easier to frame the benefits in the context of the problem or need the customer has.  Again, list them all.  It’s ok to have obscure benefits to begin with because they can be combined later when you’re framing your positioning to tell the full story.

The last component is the reason to believe.  It’s the support for why someone should have confidence that you can do what you say you can do.  RTBs can be wide ranging and could cover product capability, longevity in market, expertise or even just uniqueness.  There are lots of ways to support what you will give the customer and the trick is finding the way that works best.

Finally, there is the task of piecing these three items together.  I like to brainstorm the 3 parts and have them all listed.  As the conversation continues, we will put the serious ones together in different arrangements to see how they feel.  Ultimately, you want the team to feel excited that you’ve got it right and then move to the next stage of confirming you’ve done your positioning well – asking the hard questions.

·      How are we going to frame the product?

·      Are we focused on benefits, or are we focused on pain removal?

·      How will this resonate with our customers?

·      How is it different than our competitors?

·      Is it simple to understand?

·      Is it unique?

·      Is this an exclusive offering?

·      How should it be priced?

·      How readily available?

·      Does this path have legs to expand and own?

These are all things you should be thinking about as you go through the process. Getting the right strategic positioning makes every decision you make faster and easier.  When things get tough, it’s the place to revisit to make sure you’re aligned and building the same thing you had planned to build. 

Next, we’ll go through how to leverage the building blocks and your strategic positioning to create the right go-to-market plan.