Special Lenny's Podcast Drop and How to Manage A Big Positioning Change
Good morning, cherished newsletter subscribers!
I recorded a special episode of Lenny’s Podcast that just dropped this morning. In it, we talk about translating your positioning into a Sales Pitch. Lenny’s a great host, and we covered a LOT of ground on this one, including:
Tactical advice on pitch creation and testing
Real-life examples of companies transforming their narratives into successful sales strategies
How to combat customer inaction
How to become your prospect’s guide in their buying journey
The importance of differentiated value
The shortcomings of “old way/new way” as a sales pitch structure
Marketing’s role in the process
Why you should avoid FOMO as a sales strategy
Tips for handling objections
Lenny also does a lightning round at the end, so naturally, I’m talking about fountain pens and Snowpiercer (you either love that movie or you hate it!).
Listen now on Apple, Spotify, and YouTube. Please drop a comment and let me know what you think!
(Aside - I also did a guest post for Lenny’s newsletter last week. It’s for paid subscribers only but if you are a subscriber, it’s a good companion to this podcast episode.)
How to Manage a Big Positioning Change
On my podcast this week, I’m talking about how to make a big change in positioning actually stick.
In tech companies, it’s normal for our positioning to shift over time. Most companies have a planned strategy that includes shifting positioning as the product and the market mature. Your positioning might also change due to shifts in the competitive landscape or changes in customer behavior (often driven by economic forces).
In this episode, I cover a few things to think about:
Assume your positioning will change over time, sometimes due to things we can't predict. Plan for this by having a regular (a couple of times a year) check-in to determine whether or not you need to make a positioning adjustment.
For smaller companies, the CEO needs to drive the effort (for bigger companies, it should be whoever is ultimately responsible for the business the product is part of). If the CEO isn't on board with the new positioning, it doesn't stick.
Product, Marketing, and Sales (plus often customer success and development) - need to be involved in creating the positioning. If they aren't involved in creating it, it will be very hard to get their buy-in after the fact. Also - their input is critical to making your positioning great.
Marketing and Sales (and often product) must build a sales pitch that reflects the positioning. If sales aren't involved, it won't fully meet the sales team's needs, and it won't stick. Once we have a pitch we will agree on, sales leadership needs to drive rolling the pitch out to the sales team.
Acquisitions are a very special case and require more effort to make the positioning stick. The new positioning will be hard to absorb for both the acquired company and the acquirer. I've worked on many post-acquisition positioning exercises, and I believe a group positioning exercise can be incredibly helpful for both sides to get a deep understanding of the value of the combination (more details on this in the full podcast episode).
Find the full episode on YouTube, Spotify, Apple, or my website.
That’s it for today. I hope your weekend is great, and I apologize in advance if I made you watch Snowpiercer and you hated it.
April
What a great interview! Never a dull moment! I listened while I was driving out fencelines and checking the cattle herds at the ranch today, which should indicate that we're not exactly in the same career field. I sought you out to subscribe because I feel smarter just listening to you once.