#97: April Dunford - Positioning, Differentiation, Lessons from 200+ B2B Sales Pitches, and How To Do It Right

April Dunford is a B2B positioning expert and author of Obviously Awesome and her new book Sales Pitch. Sales Pitch guides you through an eight-step sales pitch structure the helps you stand out and win business. Building on the concepts of the bestselling book, Obviously Awesome, Sales Pitch will give your sales reps a story that makes your product shine. We talk about her new book, lessons from her first book, and covered:- Positioning vs. Category Creation vs. Strategic Narrative- Lessons from 200+ B2B sales pitches- Why differentiation is everything and how to do it- Why positioning has to be a cross-functional activity - not just for the marketing- A structure anyone can use to turn positioning into a strong sales pitch- Why she set out to write a follow up book to her 2019 hit Obviously Awesome called Sales Pitch (and go through the pain of writing a book all over again)Send guest pitches and ideas to [email protected] Five on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/exitfive/Exit Five on Twitter: https://twitter.com/exit5marketing***This episode is brought to you by Demandwell. This episode is brought to you by Demandwell. Demandwell is the best SEO solution for B2B SaaS marketers. They’ve helped customers like Lessonly drive 40% of their revenue from organic search. And they helped Terminus’s make organic search their number one source of demos. Get your free keyword feasibility assessment today at demandwell.com/keywords.Thanks to our 2023 presenting sponsors Demandwell, Jasper, and Zapier.Thanks to my friends at hatch.fm for producing this episode and handling all of the Exit Five podcast production.They give you unlimited podcast editing and strategy for your B2B podcast.Get unlimited podcast editing and on-demand strategy for one low monthly cost. Just upload your episode, and they take care of the rest.Visit hatch.fm to learn more Send guest pitches and ideas to [email protected] the Exit Five Newsletter here: https://www.exitfive.com/newsletterCheck out the Exit Five job board: https://jobs.exitfive.com/Become an Exit Five member: https://community.exitfive.com/checkout/exit-five-membership***Today’s episode is brought to you by PharosIQ. In 2024, you face tougher pipeline challenges than ever: reduced budgets, tighter resources, and fewer active buyers. Yet your growth goals remain unchanged.  PharosIQ leverages down-funnel intent signals along with targeted demand solutions to help you build your pipeline efficiently. They help B2B marketing leaders reach their ideal buyers and generate leads that actually convert for businesses of all sizes.  Generating leads is easy; generating leads that convert is what separates PharosIQ from the competition. Check them out at PharosIQ.com/exitfive; book a meeting with their team …PLUS, their team is giving away memberships to Exit Five so go check out their website that’s P-H-A-R-O-S-I-Q dot com slash exitfive one word right now. ***Thanks to my friends at hatch.fm for producing this episode and handling all of the Exit Five podcast production.They give you unlimited podcast editing and strategy for your B2B podcast.Get unlimited podcast editing and on-demand strategy for one low monthly cost. Just upload your episode, and they take care of the rest.Visit hatch.fm to learn more