Customer-centricity: Strong positioning and decisions with our PMF system
- Chris Hug
- Aug 27, 2025
- 7 min read
Your positioning works. Sales closes deals. Customers expand. Then you enter a new market segment. Same product. Same value proposition. Same pitch deck. Different buyers. Different pain points. Different competitive landscape.
Your sales team has copied the home-market pitch. Conversion rates drop from 28% to 12%. Sales cycles stretch from 45 to 90 days. Your Head of Sales says the segment "isn't ready."
The segment is ready. Your positioning isn't.
At-a-glance
The challenge:
Copy-paste positioning from the home market often fails in new segments (different buyers, pain points, alternatives)
Starting from scratch for each segment wastes time and creates positioning inconsistency
Teams struggle to adapt differentiation without segment-specific context
Traditional market research doesn't translate positioning into tailored execution
How our system works (idea to execution in 5 steps):
Problem + Offering Validation: Evidence-based Go/Pivot/Stop decision before investing further
Strategic Positioning + Synthesis: Segment-specific ICP, alternatives, and differentiation framing
Target Sweet Spot (Visual Mapping): Multi-segment prioritisation with dependencies and proof requirements
Narrative Development: Customer-facing stories using voice-of-customer language
Execution Deliverables: Draft website and pitch outlines, messaging frameworks, and more
Results from first sessions:
For example: Visual target sweet spot, problem validation, positioning statements (adapted to context), voice-of-customer research, gaps between current approach and future
Related reading:
How our PMF system uses 8 leading indicators to track fit: Measurement after positioning
From scattered SaaS features to €550k seed: Platform positioning example
Diagnosing product-market fit: The five dimensions: When positioning drifts
Before you measure fit, you need positioning clarity
You can track adoption rates and retention patterns across segments. You can measure demand signals and expansion revenue. But if your positioning doesn't fit the segment, those metrics just document the mismatch.
Positioning comes first. Measurement validates whether it's working.
The challenge: developing segment-specific positioning without reinventing everything from scratch. You need a system that adapts your core differentiation to new buyer contexts, quickly, systematically, and with confidence.
Seven questions that reveal positioning gaps
Before we show you how our approach works, check your confidence level:
Teams can explain your differentiation across segments and markets
You have validated that the problem you solve is a recurring challenge for targets
Teams can articulate why your offering is key across segments and the competitive context
You know what alternatives this segment currently uses and why those alternatives fail
You describe the buying committee and decision process for this segment
If you answered no to one of these, you're expanding with positioning assumptions, not positioning clarity.
If you answered yes to all, but teams still struggle, your positioning exists on paper but isn't translating to execution.
Either way, you need effective and systematic positioning development, not generic market research.
Why traditional approaches break
The copy-paste trap:
You take your home market positioning and change a few words. "Mid-market financial services" becomes "enterprise healthcare." The structure stays the same. The differentiation language stays the same.
Result: positioning that sounds generic because it doesn't address segment-specific context.
The start-from-scratch trap:
You treat each new segment as a blank slate. Separate research. Separate positioning. Separate messaging. Six months per segment.
Result: inconsistent differentiation across segments, slow processes to test and validate, wasted research effort, and positioning drift that confuses your core identity.
What you actually need:
A system that identifies what stays constant (your core differentiation, your unique mechanism) and what must adapt (buyer pain points, competitive alternatives, proof requirements, decision processes).
That's what our PMF System tools handle through a structured, effective process.
From idea to execution: Positioning for new offering
We built a sequence of frameworks that work together – each feeding the next with structured inputs, human logic defining what matters, and AI executing the research and pattern recognition.
Step 1: Problem + Offering Validation
The question: Does the problem you solve actually exist for this segment?
What happens: Before investing in full positioning development, we run rapid problem validation. Is this pain point real for these buyers? How severe? What triggers them to seek solutions?
How it works:
You provide a problem hypothesis ("Segment X struggles with Y")
Our AI-powered tools conduct unbiased persona research. What does this role actually care about?
The framework compares your hypothesis against research findings
Outputs: Go / Pivot / Stop with evidence-based reasoning
Why it matters: Catches misalignment early. If the problem doesn't resonate, no amount of positioning polish will fix it.
Technology: Structured expert-developed validation framework + AI research synthesis
Step 2: Strategic Positioning + Synthesis
The question: How do we adapt your core differentiation to this segment's specific context?
What happens: Once the problem is validated, we build the strategic foundation. Segment-specific ICP, competitive alternatives, and differentiation framing that keeps your core value consistent while adapting to new buyer context.
How it works:
Customer Intelligence:
Framework extracts ICP patterns: roles, pain points, buying triggers, committee structure
AI researches segment-specific behaviour: channels, terminology, urgency drivers
Human frameworks define disqualifiers: who looks like a fit but isn't
Outputs: Segment-specific ICP with voice-of-customer phrases
Competitive Context:
Framework structures alternative analysis from the buyer perspective: what they use, why they stick, where it breaks
AI discovers segment-specific alternatives (often different from your home market competitors)
Human frameworks identify switching costs and stickiness factors
Outputs: Alternative profiles with gaps that create your opportunity
Positioning Development:
The question: How do we adapt our core differentiation to this segment's specific context?
What happens: Now that we understand the segment's problems, personas, and alternatives, we develop positioning that maintains your core differentiation while adapting the framing to the segment's specific context.
How it works:
Framework extracts your core differentiation (what you do that others can't)
Inputs from problem validation, ICP, and alternatives feed into segment-specific framing
Human frameworks define positioning structure: For [segment-specific target] who [segment-specific problem]...
AI synthesises evidence across sources, generates positioning options (modest + bold versions)
Outputs: Positioning statement + UVP with segment-specific urgency and proof points
Why it matters: You're not reinventing your differentiation. You're translating it to a new buyer context. Same core value, different framing.
Why it matters: Same product, different buyers. Your home market champion (Head of Sales) might be a blocker in the new segment (Procurement). In your home market, you might compete against legacy systems. In the new segment, you might compete against in-house solutions. Different context = different positioning angle.
Outputs: Segment-specific ICP with voice-of-customer phrases + Alternative profiles + Positioning statement (modest and bold versions) + UVP with segment-specific urgency
Step 3: Visual Mapping - Target Sweet Spot
The question: How do multiple segments relate to each other, and which should we prioritise?
What happens: When you're evaluating several potential segments, we map them visually to show opportunity size, strategic fit, entry barriers, and dependencies.
How it works:
Framework defines evaluation dimensions (market size, urgency, competitive intensity, proof requirements)
Visual mapping clusters segments by attractiveness and strategic fit
Human frameworks identify dependencies ("Segment B requires proof from Segment A first")
Optional input from your CRM system data for high-value deals
Outputs: Target sweet spot visualisation with prioritisation logic in our system or your CRM
Why it matters: Not all segments are equal. Some require local presence. Some need regulatory compliance. Some demand proof you don't have yet. Visual mapping reveals the sequence and prevents pursuing segments in the wrong order.
Step 4: Narrative Development
The question: How do we turn positioning into a story that sales can execute?
What happens: Positioning statements become customer-facing narratives, stories that show buyers what success looks like, using their language and addressing their specific context.
How it works:
Framework structures narrative: customer, problem (segment-specific), guiding (your role), plan, success
Inputs from ICP (voice-of-customer language) and positioning (differentiation) feed into the story
AI generates narrative options, adapting your core story to the segment context
Outputs: Customer story that sales can tell, using segment-specific proof points
Why it matters: Your sales team doesn't pitch positioning statements. They tell stories. Narrative bridges positioning (strategic) to execution (tactical).
Step 5: Execution Deliverables
The question: What specific deliverables does sales need to execute in this new segment?
What happens: We translate positioning and narrative into concrete execution assets. Drafted positioning statements, websites, pitch outlines, messaging frameworks, and segment-specific objection handling.
How it works:
Positioning statements: Modest and bold versions ready for different contexts
Website and pitch outlines: Structured narrative with segment-specific proof points
Messaging frameworks: Voice-of-customer language mapped to key messages
Objection handling: Anticipated pushback with responses grounded in research
Outputs: Draft execution assets, not polished final versions, ready for your team to refine and adapt
Why it matters: Strategic positioning that stays in strategy documents doesn't help sales. Execution deliverables bridge the gap between "we have positioning" and "sales can pitch it."
The dependency logic that makes it systematic
Each framework outputs structured data that the next framework consumes. You're not starting from scratch each time. You're building on validated foundations.
The human part: Frameworks define what matters, which pain points to prioritise, which alternatives to profile, what makes differentiation defensible, and which segments to sequence.
The AI part: Research synthesis, pattern recognition across sources, voice-of-customer extraction, narrative generation, and evidence credibility scoring.
The combination: Systematic positioning development that adapts to new segments without six-month strategy projects or positioning-by-committee.
The bridge to measurement
Once positioning is clear, measurement becomes meaningful.
You're not tracking generic metrics. You're tracking segment-specific indicators:
Are buyers in this segment converting at expected rates?
Is our differentiation resonating (win/loss patterns)?
Are we attracting the right personas, or are we drifting?
Is adoption speed in line with other segments or lagging?
That's where our PMF measurement system comes in. Tracking the 8 leading indicators that predict whether your segment-specific positioning is working, months before revenue metrics confirm or deny it.
But measurement without clarity of positioning is just documenting confusion.
When to use this approach
You're repositioning for a new offering or use case:
Same customers, different problem
Need to validate problem-solution fit first
Want to avoid six months of strategy work
You're expanding to a new market segment:
Different buyer personas from your home market
Different competitive landscape
Need segment-specific positioning fast
You're entering a new geographic market:
Same product, different local context
Regulatory or cultural requirements
Different alternatives and buying patterns
Your sales team can't explain differentiation consistently:
Positioning exists, but execution is scattered
Need a narrative that travels from strategy to sales
Each rep is telling a different story
What this requires from you
Context on your core differentiation:
What do you do that competitors can't
Your unique mechanism or approach
Existing proof points from the home market
Hypothesis about the new segment:
Target role and company profile
Problem you think they have
Why do you think your offering fits
Willingness to pivot or stop:
If problem validation fails, we'll tell you early
Better to discover misalignment in the first sessions than months later
Some segments aren't worth pursuing – we help you avoid them
Ready to expand with positioning clarity?
If you're entering a new segment or market and don't want to guess whether your positioning will work, let's systematically validate it.
We'll show you which segments are worth pursuing, develop segment-specific positioning, and set up measurement so you catch problems early.
