The Value of Confidence

In response to my blog post about how to measure the value of good positioning, a reader mentioned that “helping founders not feel like a moron” when explaining the product is the only thing that can be directly attributed to positioning. I both agree and disagree.

First of all, let’s rephrase that so I don’t sound like a jerk — good positioning will increase the founder/CEO/salesperson’s confidence during sales conversations, and for that matter during any conversation. This is far from the only positive to come from good positioning, but there are two things to note: First of all, it is (often) a direct result of positioning, and it is definitely the only immediate outcome of better positioning. If you have confusing positioning and struggle to explain what your thing is, we could do a positioning workshop together, and five minutes later you will feel more confident when talking to people about your product.

The end goal is to close more deals, faster. But even if better positioning accelerates the sales process (it does), you will not see increased revenue in the first 5 minutes of better positioning.

So how valuable is increased founder confidence? Well, it depends. Some founders don’t seem to have their confidence dented at all, even when it’s clear that no one understands what their product is all about. The value of increasing that type of founders’ confidence is zero, or perhaps negative.

On the other hand, if you’re the type of founder who is suffering through imposter syndrome and worries that your product might not be as awesome as you think it is, increasing your confidence is incredibly valuable.

Good positioning will help both the over-confident founder (if you’ve never met one, maybe you are one) and the under-confident founder. It will accelerate sales and marketing whether or not the founder feels like his or her confidence is improved. But especially for founders who are really bothered by the fact that it takes a long time for people to understand what their product is all about, the confidence boost from better positioning can be incredibly important.

If you think better positioning would improve your confidence, check out my positioning workshop options to see if one would be a good fit.