In his book _Crossing the Chasm_, Geoff Moore introduces the concept
of a "positioning statement." The idea is to have a concise way of
defining your product in relation to other things the customers might
be thinking about. I have found that positioning statements work well
for people, too.
Here's the template:
For (target customer)
Who (statement of need or opportunity)
The (product name) is a (product category)
That (statement of key benefits - that is, compelling reason to buy)
Unlike (primary competitive alternative)
Our product (statement of primary differentiator)
Here's a product example from Geoff's book (p.162) (remember the book
was written in 1991):
For IBM-PC users who want the advantages of a Macintosh-style graphics
user interface, Microsoft Windows 3.0 is an industry-standard
operating environment that provides the ease of use and consistency of
a Mac on a PC-compatible platform. Unlike other attempts to implement
this type of interface, Windows 3.0 is now or will very shortly be
supported by every major PC application software package.
Here's how it might sound for a (fictitious) learning-organization
consultant:
For organizations that want to maximize their capabilities by
harnessing the capabilities of their employees, Jane Doe is a
consultant with significant experience achieving business results
using learning-organization concepts.
Unlike large consulting firms, Ms Doe practices these methods as her
sole professional focus and, therefore, brings both passion and
pragmatism to her client engagements.
--
Joe
joe_podolsky@hp.com
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations
For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>