#397 | One of our most popular episodes ever, inducted into our Best of B2B series: April Dunford is a B2B positioning expert and author of Obviously Awesome and Sales Pitch. Sales Pitch guides you through an eight-step sales pitch structure the helps you stand out and win business. Building on the concepts of the bestselling book, Obviously Awesome, Sales Pitch will give your sales reps a story that makes your product shine. We talk about her new book, lessons from her first book, and covered:
- Positioning vs. Category Creation vs. Strategic Narrative
- Lessons from 200+ B2B sales pitches
- Why differentiation is everything and how to do it
- Why positioning has to be a cross-functional activity - not just for the marketing
- A structure anyone can use to turn positioning into a strong sales pitch
- Why she set out to write a follow up book to her 2019 hit Obviously Awesome called Sales Pitch (and go through the pain of writing a book all over again)
Timestamps
- (00:00) - Why timeless marketing lessons still matter
- (01:21) - How April does positioning in one week
- (07:22) - Why marketing never wins a battle of opinions
- (08:38) - Who you really compete with
- (11:49) - Positioning vs. strategic narrative vs. category creation
- (19:40) - No decision, FOMO, and the race to the bottom
- (22:44) - Finding differentiation when you think you have none
- (27:58) - Selling what's on the truck vs. the vision
- (34:18) - Why April wrote Sales Pitch
- (41:00) - The sales pitch structure, with a Help Scout example
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