april-dunford-b2b-positioning-sales-pitch-architecture

name	April Dunford: B2B Positioning & Sales Pitch Architecture
description	Position any B2B product using the 5-component methodology, diagnose positioning failures, engineer buyer fear de-risk strategies, and construct sales pitches using the Setup → Follow-Through framework. The world's most actionable system for answering 'Why should customers pick us?'
version	3.0
format	completion-engine
workflows	13

April Dunford: B2B Positioning & Sales Pitch Architecture

Expert extraction from April Dunford's positioning methodology and sales pitch framework, synthesized from two comprehensive interviews on Lenny's Podcast. April Dunford's core genius: Positioning is not messaging — it's context-setting. Set the right context, and your product's value becomes self-evident. Get it wrong, and no amount of great marketing can save you. She operates two interlocking systems:

1. The 5-Component Positioning System — deconstruct competitive alternatives, map differentiated value, sharpen target segments, select market categories, and architect the sales narrative.
2. The Positioning Intelligence Engine — diagnose failure modes, map buyer fear psychology, sequence market entry, and bridge positioning into downstream copy execution.

Available Workflows

Tier 1 — Foundation (Start Here)

#	Workflow	Produces	Use When
diagnostic	Positioning Diagnostic	Positioning Health Scorecard & Root Cause Analysis	FIRST — before any repositioning. Determines whether the problem is actually positioning, or lead gen/sales execution/PMF.
product	Product Positioning Blueprint	Comprehensive Positioning Strategy Document	Launching a new product, entering a new market, or when current marketing is failing to convert leads.
fear	B2B Decision Fear Architecture	B2B Decision Fear Map & De-Risk Sales Strategy	40-60% of deals end in no-decision. Maps buyer career risk, committee dynamics, and designs teaching-based de-risk counter-strategies.
context	Market Context Engine	Market Context Narrative & Opening Scene Script	Build the "Apocalypse Now opening scene" — set Where, When, Who, Vibe before any product details surface. Deploys as sales script, landing page block, or conference opener.

Tier 2 — Practitioner

#	Workflow	Produces	Use When
sales	Sales Narrative & Pitch Deck	Strategic Sales Pitch Deck & Narrative Script	The sales team is struggling to differentiate from competitors or the current pitch feels like a feature-dump.
deal	Deal Acceleration & Champion Toolkit	Internal Champion Enablement Kit	Deals are stalling in late stages or internal champions are failing to get executive buy-in due to buyer indecision.
category	Category Decision Protocol	Category Strategy Decision Document	The critical "build or enter?" category decision. Uses the 90/10 rule — 90% of the time, enter and dominate a subsegment.
b2bvsb2c	B2B vs B2C Positioning Bifurcation	B2B/B2C Positioning Strategy & Translation Guide	Diagnose whether you're playing the B2B or B2C game, catch misapplied playbooks, and handle PLG hybrids.
niche	Niche Domination Sequencing	Niche Selection & Bowling Pin Expansion Roadmap	Select the smallest viable niche where you're the ONLY credible answer, dominate it, then sequence expansion through bowling pins.
failures	Positioning Failure Modes	Positioning Failure Diagnosis & Recovery Plan	Growth stalled, deals dying, customer confusion increasing. Forensic autopsy of 6 distinct failure modes with recovery protocols.

Tier 3 — Strategic & Stacking

#	Workflow	Produces	Use When
gtm	GTM Validation & Expansion Roadmap	Sequential GTM Roadmap & Pitch Testing Protocol	Scaling from a single niche to adjacent markets or validating a positioning pivot before a full rebrand.
siege	Positioning Siege Test	Stress-Tested Positioning with Competitive Resilience Map	Positioning must survive competitive counter-moves, market shifts, and copy attempts. When defensibility matters more than speed.
copy-bridge	Positioning-to-Copy Bridge	Copy Brief & Messaging Framework Anchored to Positioning	Translate finished positioning into a structured brief for downstream copy experts (Wiebe, Sultanic, Kallaway).
haynes-handshake	Dunford → Haynes Handshake	Temperature-Staged Cold-Offer Stack	Positioning is done but the same pitch is firing at cold strangers, warm engaged readers, and hot inbound leads alike — recompose the offer per audience temperature before scaling outbound.
godin-handshake	Godin → Dunford Handshake	Cleared Premise Card + 5-Component Build	The positioning premise itself has never been interrogated — trap named, fuzzy word split, who's-it-for reset — before a full 5-component build runs on it. Run BEFORE product/diagnostic when the premise is suspect.
kallaway-dunford	Kallaway × Dunford	Novelty-Passed Positioning (truth unchanged)	The 5-component build is done and factually sound but reads like every other player's deck in the category — a per-component expression pass makes the true claim land as new without strengthening or inventing anything. Truth-bending is an instant kill.

Cross-Expert Stacking Chains

Chain	Sequence	Use Case
Premise Gate → Positioning	Godin godin-lens/premise-audit → Dunford godin-handshake (5-component build on cleared premise)	Kill a broken premise before spending a full positioning workshop on it
Positioning → Cold Offer	Dunford product → Dunford haynes-handshake → Haynes jh-value-crosscheck/jh-offer-to-copy	Finished positioning → temperature-staged cold-offer stack → copy execution
Positioning → Copy	Dunford product → Dunford copy-bridge → Wiebe/Sultanic	Strategic positioning → production copy
Positioning → Content	Dunford context → Kallaway content psychology	Market context → high-retention content
Fear → Deal Close	Dunford fear → Dunford deal	Buyer fear map → champion enablement
Diagnostic → Full Rebuild	Dunford diagnostic → Dunford product → Dunford siege	Failure diagnosis → repositioning → stress test
Niche → GTM	Dunford niche → Dunford gtm	Pin 1 selection → expansion roadmap
Positioning → Novelty Pass	Dunford product/diagnostic → kallaway-dunford	Finished, true positioning reads stock in a saturated category — re-express without re-claiming

Quick Reference

• Genius Context: genius.md — load before any workflow
• Legacy Prompts: references/_legacy-prompts/ — archived atomic prompts

Execution Prompts (structure-pure v2)

13 deterministic practitioner prompts — each carries an Output Contract, Output Skeleton, and Quality Gate. When a deliverable matches one, Read it and honor its contract instead of improvising the output shape.

• Positioning Diagnostic — skills/april-dunford-positioning/references/prompts-v2/01-positioning-diagnostic.md
• Competitive Alternative Mapper — skills/april-dunford-positioning/references/prompts-v2/02-competitive-alternative-mapper.md
• Differentiated Value Chain Builder — skills/april-dunford-positioning/references/prompts-v2/03-differentiated-value-chain.md
• Target Customer Sharpener — skills/april-dunford-positioning/references/prompts-v2/04-target-customer-sharpener.md
• Market Category Selector — skills/april-dunford-positioning/references/prompts-v2/05-market-category-selector.md
• Sales Pitch Architect — skills/april-dunford-positioning/references/prompts-v2/06-sales-pitch-architect.md
• Insight Reverse-Engineer — skills/april-dunford-positioning/references/prompts-v2/07-insight-reverse-engineer.md
• Perfect World Bridge Builder — skills/april-dunford-positioning/references/prompts-v2/08-perfect-world-bridge.md
• Champion Ammunition Kit — skills/april-dunford-positioning/references/prompts-v2/09-champion-ammunition.md
• Proof Stack Assembler — skills/april-dunford-positioning/references/prompts-v2/10-proof-stack-assembler.md
• Bowling Pin Strategy Planner — skills/april-dunford-positioning/references/prompts-v2/11-bowling-pin-strategy.md
• Pitch Testing Protocol — skills/april-dunford-positioning/references/prompts-v2/12-pitch-testing-protocol.md
• Buyer Indecision Reducer — skills/april-dunford-positioning/references/prompts-v2/13-buyer-indecision-reducer.md