Time: 3–4 hours of interviews + 2–3 hours of structuring
Interviews
- Identified and scheduled interviews with: best salesperson, best CS manager, and founder/product lead
- Asked value prop questions: 30-second pitch, primary problem solved, what competitors can’t match (with proof), last 5 closed-won deciding factors, last 5 closed-lost reasons
- Asked ICP questions: best customer profile, purchase trigger, who finds you vs. who decides, worst-fit customer signals
- Asked competitive questions: top 3 competitors, what they do better, what you do better, strongest and weakest comparison questions, what customers say about you that they wouldn’t say about competitors
- Captured answers verbatim where possible (exact words matter for customer language)
Structured Outputs
- Document 1: Value Proposition Library created (5–8 core props, each tagged by persona, pain point, use case, proof point, industry context)
- Document 2: ICP Profiles created (2–3 personas with role, daily problems, trigger, objections, success definition, and specific language they use)
- Document 3: Competitive Positioning created (top 3 competitors, honest strengths/weaknesses, win/loss scenarios, objection-handling language)
Brand Brain Load
- All three documents stored in Brand Brain, tagged and queryable by persona, industry, pain point, and use case
- Value props formatted for outbound system (Ch6) and ABM system (Ch9) to query
- ICP language section populated with exact phrases from interviews and sales call transcripts
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