B2B positioning study
B2B Positioning
Positioning finds product categories you can own. We discover your positioning options by listening to the buyers, influencers and skeptical prospects who decide whether a category claim is believable.
Chapter 01
Categories you could own but have not claimed
Most B2B companies describe themselves by the shelf their product already sits on. Positioning asks a harder question: which category could you own that no competitor has claimed, and would a buyer recognize it as real the moment you said it? Power Decisions starts there, with several possible answers on the table instead of one answer assumed in advance.
That is the difference between a thin decision and a robust one, the model Power Decisions uses for every study. A thin positioning decision puts a single idea forward: say it this way, or don't. A robust decision rests on two or more real options, A or B or C, each built from how buyers actually behave. Opportunities are scanned first, then converted into options with the A-B-C model, then refined as new intelligence comes in.
Before any interview is booked, Thomas Brown tailors an engagement plan to your goals, assumptions and situation, and you approve it. Your current beliefs about where you stand in the market are written into that plan on purpose, because a belief that has been written down can be tested, and one that hasn't just keeps steering the work.
A brass compass resting on a blank sheet of drafting paper
How depth interviews surface positioning options
Positioning questions asked flat get flat answers. A buyer told you they choose the reliable vendor, which is true of every vendor. The category shows up in the follow-up: reliable how, compared with what, and what happened the last time it wasn't? Kinetic Depth Interviews are built for exactly that. They are one-to-one, peer-level conversations led by an interview plan rather than a questionnaire, so the second and third question can go wherever the first answer points.
Buyer journey interviews add the sequence. Power Decisions maps each decision point in the step-by-step experience of your ideal customers, from the first problem noticed to the final signature, and that map is where positioning options become visible: the moment a buyer reaches for a word you haven't used, or compares you to something outside your usual competitor list.
Who sits in the other chair matters as much as the questions. A study can include decision-makers, technical influencers and skeptical prospects, whether that is five high-level CIOs or thirty frontline users across global teams. The skeptics are the useful ones for positioning, because they tell you where a category claim would fall apart. For hard-to-reach executives, a moderated online forum running over several days can carry the same conversation.
Chapter 03
Testing and choosing a position the sales team can carry
A position is only worth having if a salesperson can say it in one breath and a buyer can repeat it. So the candidate positions are treated as concepts and tested the way Power Decisions tests any concept: develop first, screen later. Early rounds are exploratory and qualitative, speaking with target buyers about each option. Later rounds blend that with quantitative ranking, in smaller samples across multiple waves rather than one large wave, so a weak position gets caught early and a strong one gets sharpened.
The study ends in an executive brief, not a data dump. Themes, quotes and customer narratives are translated into strategic implications and clear recommendations, and the brief shows the position next to the buyer language that supports it, so your sales team can see why it holds.
The published record includes this exact kind of work. For Weyerhaeuser / TrusJoist, the study was a brand name and positioning decision for a new high-tech engineered-wood product, done directly with the CEO: the study generated, evaluated and recommended the final branding and positioning direction. If a positioning decision is in front of you now, call Thomas Brown in Forest Knolls at 415-328-7927. Typically he can offer some immediate, useful ideas on that first call.
Power Decisions, Forest Knolls, California. Call 415-328-7927 or write Tom@powerdecisions.com.