Positioning (power)

Positioning understood as a power move, not a messaging exercise. In Blair Enns’ framing, power in the client-consultant relationship rests with whoever has more alternatives — and positioning is how the firm shifts that power by reducing the client’s available substitutes. A firm positioned as one of thousands negotiates as a vendor; a firm positioned as one of one negotiates as the expert.

Source: Blair Enns, The Win Without Pitching Manifesto (2010). Enns’s diagnosis: power sits with whoever has more alternatives; deep positioning strips the client of substitutes and hands power back to the firm.

First used in: 1.2 · Power: expert vs vendor