Who you sell to, and why they care

Pick the customer you can actually win, and say the one thing that makes them lean in.

What founders use for who you sell to, and why they care, ranked by how many answers lean on it.

  1. Explains why the category word next to your name does more work than the name itself: call yourself email and you inherit... aprildunford.com Article · 8 min read Don't let Customers Decide What Your Product Is April Dunford
  2. A practical checklist for the mechanical parts of naming: trademark and domain screening, pronounceability, cultural checks... Stripe Article · 14 min read How to Pick a Name For Your Startup: An In-Depth guide Stripe
  3. Gives you the four-part structure for positioning against an alternative (what they use now, what is wrong with it, your... Growth Unhinged Newsletter · 12 min read How to differentiate your product Anthony Pierri
  4. The actual method: which five dimensions to score, the open questions that get useful answers, and why you test section by... Wynter Article · 13 min read What is Message Testing in Marketing and How To Do It Peep Laja
  5. Zoho bundling dozens of apps into one subscription, priced at Rs 1,000 per employee per month in India, is the opposite bet to... CIOL Article · 5 min read Zoho unveils bundled business app suite Zoho One CIOL Writers
  6. Concrete about what changes for the Gulf beyond translation: Arabic and right to left support, dialect differences between... Zoho Blog Article · 10 min read Localization Strategies for SaaS Products in the Middle East Market Mary Nyambura
  7. A reminder that your India message may need to change language before it changes argument, with Jio and Zomato as examples and... Medianews4u Article · 8 min read The Rise of Vernacular Marketing: Connecting with Bharat Beyond English Yasin Hamidani
  8. Built on 2.5 million recorded sales conversations, this is the evidence that most no-decision losses are fear of getting it... jolteffect.com Book · 240 pages The JOLT Effect: How High Performers Overcome Customer Indecision Matthew Dixon and Ted McKenna
  9. The free summary that separates status quo bias from indecision and gives you the four moves for the second one, including... Challenger Article · 9 min read How to Overcome Customer Indecision Using the JOLT Effect Approach Challenger
  10. A short, practical take on changing the business case you lead with (close more deals becomes reduce operating cost) without... Dawn Capital Article · 9 min read How B2B SaaS startups can reposition now to win Henry Mason

The questions

Who you sell to 16

Picking a customer worth chasing, and knowing early when a deal is not one.

What is an ICP and how is it different from a persona? People use both words for the same thing. 4 → We have about fifteen customers and they are all different. How do I find an ICP out of that? 4 → How do I qualify a deal properly instead of just hoping the enthusiastic person can buy? 4 → Half my pipeline is outside our ICP because those are the leads that came in. Do I chase them? 5 → How do I get the team to actually use the ICP instead of nodding at a slide and then doing what they want? 4 → All 16 questions in Who you sell to →
Positioning and messaging 16

Making a buyer understand in one sentence why you exist and why you are the one to pick.

What is positioning in plain English, and why does everyone insist we have got it wrong? 3 → How do I write a one-line description of what we do that a normal person actually understands? 4 → Our positioning reads fine on the website but every rep says something different on calls. How do I fix that? 4 → How do I build a sales deck that is not just a tour of our features? 4 → We are changing our positioning. How do I roll it out without breaking the pipeline mid-quarter? 4 → All 16 questions in Positioning and messaging →
eChai Partner Brands The partnership →