How to hire a positioning consultant
Hire a positioning consultant to make the decision, not to invent a tagline. Ask how they find the real alternatives, the value, the best-fit customer and the category, and what you will hold in writing when they leave. The test is whether they can run that process with your founders and get them to agree.
What you are buying
You are buying a process that ends in an agreed position. Dunford’s workshop page describes the work as aligning a team that cannot agree on why customers choose you, then turning that into a sales story. If a proposal skips the alternatives and jumps to headlines, it is a copy project.
Steps
Write the problem
Disagreement, a homepage nobody understands, or a pitch that changes by rep.
Ask for the process
Alternatives, unique attributes, value, best-fit customer, category, in that kind of order.
Ask who does the work
The person who sells it should be in the room.
Ask for the file you keep
A dated positioning document, then messaging. Not only a slide.
Talk to them yourself
A founder has to live with the decision. Do not delegate the first conversation.
Compare like with like
A workshop, a fixed sprint and a monthly retainer are different purchases.
Questions that matter
| Ask | A useful answer |
|---|---|
| What will we hold at the end? | A written position and the messaging that follows |
| What do you need from us? | Customers, won and lost deals, and the decision makers in the room |
| What do you do if we disagree? | A way to choose, with a deadline |
| What happens after the last day? | You own the document, and you know who uses it |
Price is a scope question
Published prices are not interchangeable. April Dunford lists workshop prices by company size on her consultant page. Sprint prices, including Boundset’s, are on the positioning sprint cost page. Monthly fractional rates are on the fractional product marketing cost page, with links to each source. Compare the file you leave with, and the hours your team will spend.
FAQs
Can we do this ourselves?
Yes, if you can gather the deal evidence and the founders can agree. Outside help is for the tie, or for a deadline.
How is this different from a fractional product marketer?
A consultant or a sprint settles the decision and stops. A fractional product marketer stays for launches and sales materials month after month.
What should I refuse?
A proposal that starts with a tagline, a new logo, or a category name, before anyone has listed what buyers do today.