The Components, Part 1: Alternatives, Attributes, Value

Dunford breaks positioning into five components plus one, and the order matters because each feeds the next. It starts with competitive alternatives: what would customers do if you didn't exist? Not who you think your competitor is, but what buyers actually compare you to, which is often a spreadsheet, an intern, or doing nothing at all.

Next come unique attributes: the features and capabilities you have that the alternatives lack. This list only means something relative to the real alternatives. A feature every competitor also has is table stakes, not positioning material.

Then value: what those attributes actually do for a customer, stated as outcomes. Faster reconciliation isn't value; closing the books two days earlier with one fewer contractor is. Attributes are facts, value is why anyone cares about the facts.