STEP 2: COMMERCIAL POSITIONING

THE CASE FOR CHOOSING YOU

Commercial positioning for contract manufacturers, documented so the case does not rest on who is in the room on the day.

equinet-media-commercial-positioning-hero
funnel-left-gradient-update

FROM TECHNICAL EXPERTISE
TO COMMERCIAL ADVANTAGE

In complex markets, expertise that isn't communicated commercially can't be evaluated, so the decision defaults to price. Commercial positioning structures it into a case buyers can act on.

COMPANIES THAT TRUST US

WHAT YOU END UP WITH

Clarity on where you win, alignment across your teams, and a documented foundation your organisation can work from every day.

Equinet-Media-brand-development-market-clarity-v1

Market clarity

Where you create distinct value, and how you compare.

Equinet-Media-brand-development-ideal-customer-profile-v1

Buyer and decision logic

Who decides, on what criteria, and where a supplier gets ruled out.

Equinet-Media-create-a-clear-positioning-strategy-v1

Positioning strategy

Why you are chosen, rather than interchangeable.

Equinet-Media-create-a-unified-messaging-framework-v1

One commercial narrative

A single story marketing and sales both work from.

Equinet-Media-brand-development-brand-consistency-v1

Website implications

What the new position means for your site, and whether it can carry it.

Equinet-Media-create-your-own-brand-ai-agent-v1

Structured source material

Your positioning written down in a form that other systems can use.

commercial-positioning-node

THE PROGRAMME

The expertise that wins your contracts already sits inside your business, usually spread across engineering, sales, and leadership, and rarely written down in one place. An external agency cannot research its way to it. So we work through it with you in facilitated sessions, in person or online. Your team supplies the substance. We structure it, challenge the assumptions, and document the result in a form the whole organisation can use.
IN PERSON ONLINE
Equinet-Media-Capturing-ideas-in-a-value-proposition-workshop miro-1-light-miro2

Defining commercial value drivers

Defining commercial value drivers

Equinet-Media-Mapping-customer-pains-and-gains-workshop miro-2-dark-miro-greyscale

Clarifying buyer logic and decision criteria

Clarifying buyer logic and decision criteria

Equinet-Media-Exploring-brand-positioning-workshop miro-3-light-miro2

Establishing differentiated market positioning

Establishing differentiated market positioning

The work runs in four parts, across five or six sessions. Between them, we do the research and the structuring.

services-positioning-audit-bo

1. WHERE YOU STAND

We establish a baseline before anything gets designed. A short questionnaire captures where the team sees the position today, and we run our own research alongside it: how you are currently presented, and how the suppliers you meet in tenders present themselves.

How it runs
Questionnaire, then Equinet research, then a one-hour session with the same team that ran the Commercial Diagnostic.

What it produces
A documented starting position, and a competitive picture of where you are distinct and where a buyer would struggle to tell you apart. The competitive work carries forward into part three, where it is presented in full.
services-ideal-customer-profile-bo

2. WHO YOU ARE FOR

Which customers produce profitable growth, and how the people inside them decide. We work through the buying committee together: quality, procurement, engineering, and finance each weigh a supplier differently, and each can rule one out on their own.

How it runs
A three to four-hour workshop with marketing, sales, and leadership in the room together or online.

What it produces
Defined customer profiles for each sector you serve, with the buying committee mapped behind them: who is involved, what each role is accountable for, and what they need to see before they will support a decision.  Alongside that, the criteria a supplier gets judged on, the points in the process where one gets ruled out, and where in the buying cycle a supplier is worth pursuing.
services-competitor-analysis-bo

3. WHY YOU ARE CHOSEN

This is where technical fact becomes commercial argument. A five-axis machine and an ISO 13485 cleanroom are facts any competitor with the same schedule can list. What those facts let a customer do is a commercial argument, and that argument sits with your engineers, programme managers, and quality leads rather than in a marketing department.

How it runs
Two sessions. The first opens with our competitive research and works through where you hold ground the market cannot easily match, over two to three hours with the same team. The second turns that into the value case, the narrative the business tells, and how it should sound. It runs to half a day.

What it produces
A positioning strategy, a value proposition mapped to what each customer profile is trying to achieve, one commercial narrative the whole business works from, and a documented tone of voice so that what gets written sounds like the business rather than like whoever wrote it.
services-positioning-strategy-bo

4. HOW IT GETS USED

A position only holds if the people using it understand why it is what it is. We work with the people who sit in front of buyers, so the case can be defended in a live conversation rather than read from a page. We gather the documentation the business already holds: technical specifications, certifications, regulatory approvals, and the standards the work runs inside. Then we compile it all into a structured form.

How it runs
A questionnaire to sales and business development, then a two-hour workshop with them. The documentation is gathered in parallel with whoever holds it. The compilation work is ours.

What it produces
Messaging and proof points, with technical evidence attached to each claim, so sales and marketing work from the same understanding rather than the same document.  That, with your technical and regulatory documentation, compiled as structured content rather than a deck, which is the form HubSpot's context layer reads and the reason output built on it stays accurate.

FEE AND TIMELINE

£15,000 (+VAT)

Three to six weeks from kick-off to a documented position (dependent on your availability).
Priced for up to three customer profiles.

Five or six facilitated sessions, plus the research between them

The positioning strategy, value case, narrative, and tone of voice, documented

Proof points with the technical evidence attached to each claim

Your technical and regulatory documentation gathered and compiled, ready for HubSpot

NOTES:

i) We have run these workshops for over fifteen years. The Engine they feed is new, and only became buildable as HubSpot's platform matured.
ii) Not included:
your website, which is a separate project. See website design

iii) Before this step: the £3,500 Commercial Diagnostic fee is deducted from this price where one has run.  See the Diagnostic
iV) BOOK AN ENGINE WALKTHROUGH. The walkthrough is 45 minutes and covers all five steps. Nothing is quoted on the call.

 

tom-carpenter-ceo-titon-uk

Equinet’s programme gave us a far clearer understanding of our customer decision makers and the pain points that matter most to them. The process challenged our assumptions and sharpened our thinking. As a result, we made fundamental changes that have significantly strengthened our marketing strategy and lead generation.

Tom Carpenter CEO, Titon

WHY IT MATTERS

BEFORE THE PRICE CONVERSATION


By the time a buyer asks for a price, the shortlist is set, and the criteria are written. This paper sets out what determines whether you are on that list, and what it takes to be judged on more than rate.

THE METHODOLOGY

THE COMMERCIAL INTELLIGENCE ENGINE

  • Step 1 of 5:

    Commercial Diagnostic

    A 90-minute workshop that gives your leadership team a clear, shared view of how the commercial system is actually performing.

  • Step 2 of 5:

    Commercial Positioning

    Facilitated sessions that surface why customers choose you, who you are for, and the technical and regulatory boundaries the work runs inside.

  • Step 3 of 5:

    Commercial Systems

    A governed knowledge base that keeps AI-generated content accurate, on-message, and consistent with how you actually win business.

  • Step 4 of 5:

    Commercial Data

    One shared source of qualified data, so marketing and sales stop working from different pictures of the same accounts.

  • Step 5 of 5:

    Market Amplification

    Account-based campaigns that reach the accounts you name, and answer engine optimisation so buyers researching without you read something verified.

Explore the methodology

why work with
equinet media?

HubSpot Solutions Partner since 2011 (1)

HubSpot Solutions Partner since 2011

Hubspot-Partner-Rating

Outstanding
customer rating

equinet-media-hubspot-retention-rate

Customer retention rate on HubSpot

Years of delivering exceptional results (1)

Years delivering for customers on HubSpot

WHERE TO START

Whether you want to talk about your growth goals or our methodology, here's how.  

Mail-regular

CONTACT US

You know your goals.  If it would help to talk through how we could support that, send us a message, and we will reply within one business day.

CalendarPlus-regular

THE WALKTHROUGH

Forty-five minutes Commercial Engine walkthrough, one step at a time. You leave with a one-page map of what is already in place and where it makes sense to start.