dunford-obviously-awesome
Obviously Awesome Positioning
Based on April Dunford's public method. Not affiliated with or endorsed by April Dunford.
When to use
Use this skill when customers get substantial value but prospects struggle to understand why to buy, when teams disagree about differentiation, or when the product's inherited category no longer explains where it wins. It also supports a launch, website rewrite, or sales pitch that needs a sound strategic foundation. Its deliverable is a dated positioning canvas with evidence, a category decision, a brief buyer explanation, and a validation plan. [S2] [S4]
Positioning connects five choices: real alternatives, differentiated capabilities, customer value, customers who care intensely, and market category. Work through those choices before writing messaging. Describe the product available today; keep future strategy and investor vision separate from current buyer claims. [S5] [S7] [S8]
Use supplied customer and product evidence first. Where evidence is missing, produce a provisional canvas and name the questions needed to resolve it. Do not invent interviews, results, competitor limitations, or customer demand. The template and review gates are practical adaptations of the public method, not reproductions of Dunford's proprietary materials.
Procedure
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Define the assignment and evidence boundary. Record the offering, version, decision to support, current frame, and available wins, losses, interviews, usage, and demonstrations. Distinguish observations from hypotheses and roadmap promises. Follow method: Evidence and scope and open the output template.
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Suspend the inherited category. Write down how the team currently describes the product and which expectations that description creates. Keep it as a candidate rather than a constraint. Read method: Release the default frame.
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Identify actual buyer alternatives. Establish what each buyer would do without the offering, including keeping the present workflow. Separate distinct buying situations and exclude rivals absent from actual consideration. Use method: Competitive alternatives.