Build A Competitive Positioning Grid to Help Your Staff Stay on Message

Last week, Fire Enterprises (FEI) marketing maven Marka told savvy salesperson Zoot and FEI tribe leader Org about two crucial components of an effective messaging document. This week, Marka discusses how building a competitive positioning grid can help FEI’s staff stay on message and counter buying objections. Remember, fire = print.

Zoot and Org sat in Org’s office, listening as energetic Marka continued talking about creating a messaging document for FEI.

“A main goal of FEI’s messaging document is to arm our salespeople and customer-facing staff with responses to common questions about—and objections to—FEI,” Marka said. “How our staff answers these questions could mean the difference between a prospect walking out the door and signing on the dotted line. And one of the most common questions they’ll hear is ‘What sets you apart from competitor X?’ Or, my favorite: ‘Competitor Y does this—can you do this?’”

“So what’s the solution?” Org asked.

“Our messaging document should include a competitive positioning grid that breaks down how FEI is differentiated from our main competitors,” Marka said. “This document will help our staff become conversant on FEI’s key competitors, their key messages and brand, and what sets us apart. Then, when questions about competing solutions inevitably arise, they’ll have an intelligent, on-message answer.”

Marka scribbled on the whiteboard:

“If needed, we could build out this grid further, countering Flintstone’s and Pyro’s main benefits and products with FEI’s equivalents,” Marka said. “Now, every FEI solution may not beat Flintstone’s and Pyro’s hands-down—if they did, these competitors probably wouldn’t be in business. But we can show that we offer a differentiated solution.”