Source: business/marketing/campaigns/30-day/wip/pipeline-skills-bundle/01-the-positioning-skill.md

name: "The Positioning Skill" description: | Build your positioning statement — what you do, who it's for, and why someone should choose you over anyone else.

Triggers:

"I need to explain what I do"
"People don't understand my services"
"I sound like every other [consultant/CPA/advisor]"
"I need a better elevator pitch"
"I'm updating my bio / LinkedIn / website"
"I don't know how to differentiate myself"
"I keep attracting the wrong clients" metadata: author: "Kathryn Brown, Practice Builders" version: "1.0.0" category: "Pipeline Builder" bundle: "6 Claude Skills to Fill Your Pipeline Without Referrals" skillnumber: 1 of 6 outputfile: "positioning-statement.md" ---

The Positioning Skill

Core Principle

Most practice owners describe themselves the way their industry describes them. "I'm a CPA." "I'm a financial planner." "I do consulting." That tells your prospect nothing about why they should pick up the phone.

Positioning is not branding. It is not a tagline exercise. It is the clear, honest answer to three questions every prospect asks silently: What do you do? Is it for someone like me? Why you and not the other person?

If you cannot answer all three in under 30 seconds — using plain language, with zero jargon — you do not have positioning. You have a job title.

This skill builds the answer. Not a perfect one. A working one. Something you can paste into your LinkedIn, say at a networking event, drop into a proposal, and use in outreach — today.

What This Skill Does

This skill runs a focused conversation and produces a complete positioning document. Five jobs, one session.

Job 1: Service Clarity — Identify exactly what you do in language a non-expert would understand.

Job 2: Client Definition — Define who your best clients actually are (not who you wish they were).

Job 3: Result Articulation — Name the specific results you produce in terms your client cares about.

Job 4: Differentiator Extraction — Pull out what makes you different from the other options your prospect is considering.

Job 5: Anti-Client Profile — Define who you should NOT work with, so your positioning repels the wrong people as clearly as it attracts the right ones.

How This Skill Works

This is a conversation, not a form. I will ask you one question at a time. Answer in whatever way feels natural. Short answers are fine. Long answers are fine. If you are doing this on your phone, use voice-to-text — dictation is better for this kind of work. Typing activates the filter. Talking activates the flow.

I will follow up when I need more detail. I will not move on until I have what I need.

When we are done, I will present your complete positioning document. You review it, request changes, and approve it. Nothing gets finalized until you say it is right.

Time required: 15-25 minutes of conversation.

What you need: No preparation. Just your experience and honest answers.

The Conversation

Block 1: What You Do

Question 1.1: What is your practice? Give me the basics — what services do you provide, and in what format? (Examples: monthly retainer advisory, project-based consulting, tax preparation and planning, comprehensive financial planning, fractional CFO services.)

Follow-up rule: If they list more than 3 services, ask: "If you had to keep only one of these — the one that generates the most revenue and the most satisfaction — which would it be?"

Question 1.2: When a client hires you, what do they actually get? Walk me through what happens between "yes, let's work together" and "here's what we delivered." I want the practical version, not the website version.

Follow-up rule: If the answer is vague ("I help them with their finances"), ask: "Give me a specific example. Think of your last client — what did you actually do for them in the first 30 days?"

Question 1.3: How long does a typical engagement last? Is this a one-time project, a recurring relationship, or something else?

Block 2: Who It's For

Question 2.1: Think about your three best clients — the ones you wish you could clone. What do they have in common? I am looking for specifics: industry, company size, revenue range, role/title, stage of business, life stage, whatever patterns you see.

Follow-up rule: If they say "anyone who..." push back: "I get that you can work with lots of people. But who do you do your best work for? The ones where the results are undeniable and the relationship is easy."

Question 2.2: How do these clients describe their problem before they find you? What words do they use? What are they frustrated about, worried about, or trying to figure out?

Follow-up rule: If they give you the professional version ("They need strategic tax planning"), ask: "That's the professional term. What do they actually say? What's the version they'd tell their spouse over dinner?"

Question 2.3: Where do your best clients come from right now? Referrals, LinkedIn, events, Google, somewhere else? And who typically refers them?

Block 3: What Results You Produce

Question 3.1: When an engagement goes well, what changes for the client? Be specific — numbers, outcomes, situations that improve. Not "peace of mind" — what does peace of mind actually look like for them?

Follow-up rule: If the answer is abstract, ask: "Can you give me one concrete example? A real client, real numbers, real before-and-after — anonymized is fine."

Question 3.2: How long does it typically take before the client sees that result? Are we talking weeks, months, a year?

Question 3.3: What would have happened to that client if they had NOT hired you? What was the trajectory they were on?

Block 4: What Makes You Different

Question 4.1: When a prospect is considering you, who else are they also considering? Not by name necessarily — what type of alternative? (A bigger firm? A cheaper option? Doing it themselves? A different type of professional entirely?)

Question 4.2: Why do clients choose you over those alternatives? And I want the real reason, not the polished one. What do they tell you after they've signed — why did they actually pick you?

Follow-up rule: If they say "relationship" or "trust," ask: "Everyone says that. What specifically do you do that builds that trust? What is the thing you do that the other option doesn't?"

Question 4.3: Is there something about how you work — your process, your model, your background, your philosophy — that is genuinely unusual in your space? Something a competitor would not or could not copy easily?

Follow-up rule: If they struggle, offer prompts: "Do you have a specific methodology? An unusual background? A niche specialization? A pricing model that's different? A strong opinion about how your industry does things wrong?"

Block 5: Who You Should NOT Work With

Question 5.1: Think about the worst client you have ever had — or the engagement that made you miserable. What made it bad? What were the warning signs?

Question 5.2: Is there a type of client you have learned to say no to? What is the pattern?

Question 5.3: If you could put a sign on your door that says "Do not enter if you are ___," what would it say?

Rules

One question at a time. Never stack questions. Wait for a response before moving forward.
Use their words. When building the output, use the language they used in conversation. Do not rewrite their answers into marketing copy. Their natural language is more persuasive than polished language.
Push for specifics. Vague answers produce vague positioning. If an answer is generic, follow up. You need at least one concrete example, one real number, or one specific scenario from each block.
Do not invent. Every claim in the output must come from something they said. Do not add benefits, features, or differentiators they did not mention.
Minimum input thresholds: You need at least 2 specific client examples, 1 concrete result with a number or measurable outcome, and 1 clear differentiator before you can produce the output. If you do not have these, tell them what is missing and ask for it.
Show before saving. Present the full positioning document. Ask for their review. Make requested changes. Only mark as final when they approve.
No jargon in the output. The positioning statement must be understandable by someone who has never heard of their industry. If it requires background knowledge to parse, rewrite it.
Platform-agnostic language. The output should work in a LinkedIn bio, an email signature, a proposal introduction, a networking conversation, and a website homepage. Do not optimize for one channel.

Session Flow

START
  │
  ├─ Introduction: Explain what we're building and how the conversation works
  │
  ├─ Block 1: What You Do (Questions 1.1 – 1.3)
  │    └─ Follow-ups until services are clear and concrete
  │
  ├─ Block 2: Who It's For (Questions 2.1 – 2.3)
  │    └─ Follow-ups until ideal client is specific and real
  │
  ├─ Block 3: What Results You Produce (Questions 3.1 – 3.3)
  │    └─ Follow-ups until at least one concrete outcome exists
  │
  ├─ Block 4: What Makes You Different (Questions 4.1 – 4.3)
  │    └─ Follow-ups until at least one genuine differentiator is identified
  │
  ├─ Block 5: Who You Should NOT Work With (Questions 5.1 – 5.3)
  │    └─ Follow-ups until anti-client profile is clear
  │
  ├─ DRAFT: Present full positioning document
  │    └─ Review cycle: Revise until approved
  │
  └─ FINAL: Deliver approved positioning document
END

Output Format

When the conversation is complete, produce the following document. Use their exact words wherever possible. Format as a clean markdown document.

# Positioning Statement
## [Their Name] — [Their Practice Name]

---

### One-Line Positioning Statement

[A single sentence — under 25 words — that answers: what you do, who you do it for, and what result they get. Written in plain language. No jargon. A stranger at a dinner party should understand it immediately.]

---

### The Elevator Version (3 sentences)

[Sentence 1: The problem your ideal client has — stated in their words.]
[Sentence 2: What you do about it — stated as a concrete action, not a vague promise.]
[Sentence 3: What changes for them — stated as a specific, believable outcome.]

---

### The Formula

**I help** [specific type of person/business]
**do** [specific thing you help them accomplish]
**so that** [specific result they care about — in their language, not yours]

---

### Why Me: 3 Differentiators

**1. [Differentiator Name]**
[2-3 sentences explaining what this is, why it matters, and why the alternative doesn't have it. Must be specific and verifiable — not "I care more."]

**2. [Differentiator Name]**
[2-3 sentences explaining what this is, why it matters, and why the alternative doesn't have it.]

**3. [Differentiator Name]**
[2-3 sentences explaining what this is, why it matters, and why the alternative doesn't have it.]

---

### Anti-Client Profile: Who This Is NOT For

This practice is not a fit for:

- [Type 1 — described in plain terms with the specific behavior or characteristic that makes them a bad fit]
- [Type 2]
- [Type 3]

**Red flag signals:** [2-3 early warning signs that a prospect is an anti-client, drawn from their real experiences]

---

### Where to Use This

- **LinkedIn headline/about section:** Use the one-line statement or the formula
- **Email signature:** Use the one-line statement
- **Proposals:** Open with the elevator version
- **Networking/introductions:** Use the formula as your verbal introduction
- **Website homepage:** Use the elevator version as hero copy; differentiators as a section below
- **Outreach messages:** Lead with the problem statement (sentence 1 of the elevator version)

---

*Built with The Positioning Skill — Practice Builders*
*Version 1.0.0*

What Makes This Different

Most positioning exercises give you a Mad Libs template and call it done. "I help [blank] achieve [blank] through [blank]." You fill it in, it sounds like everyone else, and you never use it.

This skill does three things differently:

It extracts before it constructs. The conversation pulls out real examples, real results, and real language before attempting to build anything. The positioning comes from your actual practice, not from a framework.

It builds an anti-client profile. Knowing who you are NOT for is half of positioning. Most exercises skip this entirely. Your anti-client profile will save you more time and money than your positioning statement — because the wrong clients cost more than no clients.

It produces deployment-ready output. The document tells you exactly where to use each piece. You do not have to figure out how to turn a "brand statement" into something you can actually paste somewhere. It is already formatted for the places you will use it.

Built by Kathryn Brown — Practice Builders