You're losing deals you don't even know you're losing.

In B2B, about 40% of deals end in "no decision." Translation: you lost to the spreadsheet. You lost to pen and paper. You lost to the intern doing manual work. The problem? Most companies position themselves against competitors. They forget about status quo. They forget that "doing nothing" is often the safest choice. But that's just one mistake. There are four more that kill deals just as fast. Here's what's happening: Your positioning is weak. Your sales team is pitching features instead of value. Your marketing says one thing, sales says another, and product thinks something completely different. The result? Customers don't get why they should pick you. They don't get what you do. They don't get why it matters.

Today, I'm breaking down the five positioning mistakes that kill deals:

1. Ignoring status quo (the 40% killer)

2. Starting with "why everyone loves us"

3. Confusing competition with competitive alternatives

4. Team misalignment

5. Feature-focused pitching instead of value

Let's dig in.

Mistake #1: Ignoring Status Quo (The 40% Killer)

Most companies discount status quo. They shouldn't.

In B2B, you have two sets of competitors: Status quo (what they're doing now—spreadsheets, pen and paper, interns) and the short list (other solutions they're evaluating). Most companies only think about the short list. They forget status quo is real competition. It has inertia. It's free. It's already in place. It's often "good enough." If you're not positioning against status quo, you'll never get the customer to come off of it.

The fix: Acknowledge status quo. Understand what they're doing now. Show why "good enough" isn't actually good enough.

That's it.

Mistake #2: Starting with "Why Everyone Loves Us"

Teams ask: "Why does everybody love our stuff?"

This is terrible. You get opinions, not differentiated value. You don't know if those themes are differentiated or just generally valuable. The problem: If any alternative could deliver the same value, why are you even talking about it?

The fix: Start with competitive alternatives. Understand what you have to beat. Then figure out what you have that alternatives don't. Then map that to value.

That's it.

Mistake #3: Confusing Competition with Competitive Alternatives

When I say "competitive alternatives," most people think "competition." Things that look exactly like them.

That's wrong.

Competitive alternatives are everything the customer could choose instead of you: Status quo (what they're doing now) and the short list (other solutions they're evaluating). You need to say: "I gotta beat all that to win a deal." Most folks discount status quo. But you lose 40% of deals there. You can't ignore it.

The fix: Map out both status quo and the short list. Position against all of it.

That's it.

Mistake #4: Team Misalignment

The founder has one idea. Marketing has another. Sales pitches it differently. Product thinks differently.

The result? Weak positioning from lack of alignment across the team. Positioning is a team sport. Get marketing, product, sales, customer success, and executives (especially the CEO) together in a room. When everyone agrees on all five pieces of positioning, you get alignment. Everyone sings the same song. The positioning actually gets used.

The fix: Get everyone in the same room. Align on all five pieces of positioning.

That's it.

Mistake #5: Feature-Focused Pitching Instead of Value

Most sales pitches are product expositions. "Here's how you log in. Here's this feature. Here's that feature."

The customer thinks: "That sounds like this, but also like that. Is it different? I'm not so sure." It doesn't answer: "Why pick us over the other guys?" When talking about features, talk about the value they deliver. Ask "so what?" for each feature. The answer is your value.

The fix: Structure your pitch around value, not features. Start with insight. Set up alternatives. Paint the perfect world. Then show how features deliver that value.

That's it.

Bonus Mistake: Using FOMO When Customers Are Indecisive

Matt Dixon studied 2.5 million sales calls. If a customer is indecisive, throwing FOMO makes it worse. They're less likely to close.

Why? They're already stressed. You're adding more stress. "Bad things if I do something, bad things if I don't. What do I do?" They put their head in the sand.

The fix: Give them tools to decide. Paint the market picture. Teach them how to buy. Take risk off the table.

That's it.

The Cost of These Mistakes

Weak positioning hurts across the pipeline.

Early stages: People don't get what you are. Marketing doesn't resonate. Pipeline gets sluggish.

Sales calls: "Could you just say that again?" or "I get what you do, I just don't get why anyone would pay for that."

After the sale: You close deals, but then customers realize "This isn't what I thought it was." Then they churn.

The Fix: Start with Competitive Alternatives

The first step: Understand what you have to position against. What do I have to beat to win a deal?

You need to say: "I gotta beat all that to win a deal." Most folks discount status quo. But you lose 40% of deals there. Start with competitive alternatives. Map out status quo and the short list. Then build your positioning from there.

What You Learned

• You lose 40% of B2B deals to status quo—you can't ignore it

• Starting with "why everyone loves us" gets you opinions, not differentiated value

• Competitive alternatives include both status quo and the short list, not just competitors

• Team misalignment kills positioning—it's a team sport

• Feature-focused pitching doesn't answer "why pick us?"—value-focused pitching does

Most positioning fails because teams make these mistakes. Fix them. Get everyone aligned. Then you can execute positioning that actually works.

Start with one fix. Map your competitive alternatives (don't forget status quo). Get your team aligned. Restructure your pitch around value.

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Best,

Adi

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