In an earlier topic called “Product Positioning: Where Do You Stand?” I discuss product positioning to give your product a unique and highly competitive placement in the market. One of the outcomes of the process of determining the focus of your product - in terms of such elements as target market, users and features - is the development of a compelling statement describing your product.

The positioning statement paints a picture that grabs the attention of your ideal prospects and helps them remember the product and what it could mean for them if they bought it. The key to a successful statement is to make it compelling, something that speaks so well to prospects that it gets them listening and helps them distinguish your product from the competition.

Product Managers are in a powerful position to work with Marketing to build a statement that is truly compelling, because they know what speaks to their customers and what they are looking for. Even the most technically oriented of Product Managers have been called upon to explain their product’s purpose in terms that business users and executives can understand. They have seen which words and ideas work and which don’t.

Your sales reps can take the statement verbatim and use it for their “elevator speech” or “elevator pitch”, the quick synopsis of the product that they would use if they find themselves riding the elevator up to the conference room with their prospect, who has just turned to them and asked: “So tell me, what does your product do?” This same speech is the intro at trade shows and on cold calls, designed to keep the right prospect interested in hearing more.

The same statement gets repeated, in whole or broken out into its separate elements, in product presentations and all marketing materials. It’s the point in an in-person presentation where people sit up and pay attention. It’s the sentence quoted in a callout box on the brochure, the one you want the reader to remember, if they take only one thing away with them.

Follow the tips below to create a compelling positioning statement that becomes an effective basis for sales pitches, marketing collateral, and all presentations about the product.