Positioning worksheet template for project management software
Use this positioning worksheet worksheet to explain who the offer is for, what problem it solves and what evidence supports choosing it. It is written for project management software and starts with an illustrative offer: a shared project planning workspace. Replace the assumptions with evidence from your own business before using the result.
Leave with a testable positioning statement and a list of evidence needed to support it.
Start with a real buying situation
For the worked example, the audience is an operations lead at a professional-services firm. Their problem is that client deadlines live in different spreadsheets and dependency changes arrive late. The desired practical outcome is a single view of owners, dependencies and delivery dates.
The example is deliberately bounded: client teams must retain access to an export of their work. That condition should influence the promise, scope and next step rather than disappear from the marketing copy.
| Illustrative offer | a shared project planning workspace |
|---|---|
| Buyer question | Which handover creates the most rework when a delivery date changes? |
| Possible evidence | a sample project with one late dependency and the resulting schedule change |
| Useful asset | a project dependency mapping worksheet |
How to complete your positioning worksheet
- Name the customer and the situation in which they need help.
- Describe the alternative they use today.
- Choose the most relevant difference your offer can demonstrate.
- Connect that difference to a useful customer outcome.
- Test the statement in conversation and ask people to repeat what they understood.
Worked example
These entries are illustrative planning material, not research findings or customer results. Keep the structure and replace the content with verified details.
| For this customer and situation | Project management software buyers, especially an operations lead at a professional-services firm, dealing with this issue: client deadlines live in different spreadsheets and dependency changes arrive late. |
|---|---|
| The current alternative | An existing provider, an internal process or no change. Ask which alternative the buyer actually uses. |
| Our relevant difference | A clearly scoped offer and visible evidence: a sample project with one late dependency and the resulting schedule change. |
| Evidence we can show | Use a sample project with one late dependency and the resulting schedule change; check whether it answers the buyer’s uncertainty. |
| The short positioning statement | For an operations lead at a professional-services firm, our a shared project planning workspace helps work towards a single view of owners, dependencies and delivery dates. Evaluate it through run one internal project for two weekly planning cycles. |
Review before using it
A useful operational measure in this example is time spent preparing the weekly delivery update. That does not automatically make it a marketing attribution metric. Define the source, period and owner before drawing conclusions.
- Does the statement distinguish the offer without inventing a claim about competitors?
- Check the delivery assumptions: Agree who imports data, maintains the plan and owns exit exports.
- Use evidence rather than promises. Do not present feature count as proof of adoption.
- Discuss the draft with someone who understands the buying situation. Start with: “Which handover creates the most rework when a delivery date changes?”
- If the next step is a trial, define its purpose. One possible starting point is to run one internal project for two weekly planning cycles.
Common mistakes and a better review
Do not fill a missing fact with an impressive-sounding number. Mark it as an assumption, explain how you will check it and give that check an owner. A short, honest document is easier to use than an elaborate plan built on unknowns.
| Watch for | Words such as innovative or premium add little when they have no observable meaning. |
|---|---|
| A real buyer concern | Another tool will just add more administration. |
| Useful response direction | Let us time the current weekly update and compare the same update on one sample project before asking everyone to move. |
| Evidence to collect | The buyer’s own account, a sample project with one late dependency and the resulting schedule change, and records relevant to time spent preparing the weekly delivery update. |
Your working sheet.
Make the exercise your own. Notes are saved in this browser when storage is available. Download a copy to keep; avoid confidential information on a shared device.
Example: Project management software buyers, especially an operations lead at a professional-services firm, dealing with this issue: client deadlines live in different spreadsheets and dependency changes arrive late.
Example: An existing provider, an internal process or no change. Ask which alternative the buyer actually uses.
Example: A clearly scoped offer and visible evidence: a sample project with one late dependency and the resulting schedule change.
Example: Use a sample project with one late dependency and the resulting schedule change; check whether it answers the buyer’s uncertainty.
Example: For an operations lead at a professional-services firm, our a shared project planning workspace helps work towards a single view of owners, dependencies and delivery dates. Evaluate it through run one internal project for two weekly planning cycles.
Review your work
This is a reflection checklist, not an automated assessment.
Questions
How do I adapt this for my project management software business?+
Is the filled example ready to publish?+
What should I do after completing the worksheet?+
Illustrative business worksheet. No customer results, market rates, traffic volumes or performance benchmarks are implied.
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