Guest Author: Lawson Abinanti, Messages that Matter

This special guest article from Lawson at Messages that Matter talks about the positioning of top FP&A tools and how the market is doing at positioning its tools in a very crowded market, hint not well. Without further ado Lawson’s article follows:

Stick with a position for an extended period of time to claim it

Change is not your friend when it comes to claiming a position. You need to stick with a position for an extended period of time, at least 18 months and ideally much longer. Salesforce stuck with the “success” position for more than 10 years.

But abandoning a compelling position makes no sense which is what Cube did.

With four simple words – “Work less. Hit plan” – Cube’s previous position solved a pressing target audience problem – planning is time consuming – and delivered an important message – hit plan.

Cube isn’t the only FP&A vendor that changed positions since my initial assessment on June 14th.

OneStream changed a common position – “embeds AI for better decisions” – to no clear position due to multiple claims, and Board went from no clear position to the most common position in B2B software marketing – “better decisions.”

What is positioning?

A position is the mental space in your target audience’s mind that you can occupy with a benefit claim that solves a pressing target audience problem. It’s in this mental space where your solution to the problem meet and form a meaningful relationship.

Other than Kepion, not many competitors are forming a meaningful relationship with their target audience. Reasons include lack of differentiation and multiple claims with no clear benefit.

Here is a competitive map that makes it easy to see how the 19 FR&A vendors are positioned relative to each other, which ones have similar or identical positions and those that resonate because they express a benefit that solves a pressing target audience problem:

Figuring out how some vendors are positioned (or aren’t) was challenging. That’s because several make multiple claims and it’s hard to figure out which claim – if any – is the position.

Solver is a classic example of two different claims competing with each other for prominence. The home page headline is “Accelerate Better Decisions.” The first sentence makes one of the most overused claims in B2B software marketing:

“Transform your visibility, planning, and performance with a cloud-based Corporate Performance Management solution that is fast, easy, and accurate!”

While Solver should be assessed as having “no clear position,” each claim is made by at least one other competitor and these competitors should consider changing their positions due to lack of differentiation.

None of the vendors claiming “transform” proves it

It is bad enough that those making the “transform” claim blend in. It’s even worse that they don’t prove it.

The reaction you want to your positioning statement is “That’s interesting. Tell me more. How do you do it?” But all three vendors – Solver, insightsoftware and Anaplan – never explain how they “transform.” Instead, they make supporting claims that most competitors are making.

Explaining what you do is not a position

Multiple claims – especially those that explain what the product does rather than the benefit(s) – confuse buyers and fail to entice them to learn more. None of the vendors making multiple claims – OneStream, Workday, Vena and Prophix – include anything resembling a benefit. They explain what their product does which is not a position:

Failure to differentiate is a problem common in all B2B software and technology markets I follow. The FP&A market is a classic example. It is hard to understand why lack of differentiation is a problem because it is no secret how the FP&A vendors are positioned.  They do it in public.

Vendors should monitor their competitors’ websites regularly

All FP&A vendors have to do to figure out how their competitors are positioned is go to their websites. Their home pages should make their positions clear and obvious. If they don’t, they probably don’t have a position. To confirm this, dig a little deeper into their websites.

Therefore, the next time an FP&A vendor creates new positioning, the first step is to visit competitors’ websites to figure out how they are positioned.  Then avoid their positions like the plague and create one that is unique.

It seems so simple yet some FP&A vendors either don’t pay attention to how their competitors are positioned or they like another competitor’s position so much they copy it. I wonder which one caused Cube to change to Kepion’s position.

The irony is that lack of differentiation creates buyer confusion, long sales cycles, price wars or the dreaded “no decision.” No doubt many FP&A sales professionals experience these obstacles that should not exist if those doing positioning paid more attention to how their competitors are positioned.

About the author

Lawson Abinanti is a positioning and messaging expert with extensive B2B software and technology experience. He was on the management team of TM1 Software, now owned by IBM and the engine that drives IBM Planning & Analytics, and after co-founding Messages that Matter in 2001, FP&A clients included mid-market leader FRx Software (through acquisitions by Great Plains and Microsoft) and several TM1 partners such as global leader Cubewise. Visit the Messages that Matter website to learn more about effective positioning and messaging: https://messagesthatmatter.com/

Note for Article:

I was ready to publish my annual assessment of the effectiveness of the positions of the leading Financial Planning & Analysis vendors on June 14th but discovered that my praise of Cube Software’s position was no longer valid.

Cube’s new position – “Finally, FP&A your way” is almost identical to Kepion’s position – “Planning your way.”

My initial assessment also praised Kepion for sticking with the same position since 2018 and this praise remains unchanged. The longer you stick with a position the better because you’ll own it.

Ironically Kepion is likely to benefit from Cube’s identical position because Kepion owns “Planning your way.” As a result, when target buyers are exposed to Cube’s position, they will think of Kepion and not Cube.