The 81% problem means you’ve already lost before the first call
Outdated (or just poor) positioning kills deals upstream, long before your sales team ever get a chance to pitch.
👋 Hi, I’m James. I write Building Momentum to help you accelerate B2B SaaS growth through product marketing, GTM strategy, sales, and marketing.
Level up your product marketing skills, tools, & confidence
The GTM Playbook is a hands-on course designed for startup marketers who want to advance their career, build go-to-market strategy with confidence, and deliver real business impact.
→ Find out more + sign up here: just $299
I talked to a founder last week who’s about to spend £50,000 exhibiting at a trade show. But their positioning document hasn’t been updated in three years.
The product has changed, the market has changed, and what works now is completely different.
But they’re going to roll up to that booth with outdated messaging, generic value props, and a story that doesn’t resonate with the people walking by.
It's a £50k bet on a three-year-old guess.
And here’s the thing that makes it worse: by the time someone walks up to that booth, they’ve probably already decided.
There’s a stat from 6sense that 81% of buyers have already decided who they prefer before they ever talk to sales.
Think about what that means. If your positioning is wrong, if your messaging doesn’t land, if prospects don’t know you for what you want to be known for... you’ve already lost.
You don't lose at the demo stage, or at pricing negotiation. You lost before they ever picked up the phone.
The invisible decision
Most founders and product marketers I’ve work with obsess over sales collateral and better decks.
But the real decision happens upstream on your website, your content, “dark social” and the whisper network of their peer group.
By the time a prospect books a call, they’ve already done the work. They have a great idea of the landscape, the key players, and who aligns most with their need.
They’ve already formed an opinion about whether you’re worth their time. If that opinion is “meh” or “I don’t get it,” your sales team is fighting uphill from minute one.
The hardest part is that… nobody tells you this is happening.
The prospect shows up to the call, asks polite questions, and sales runs through the demo. But the outcome was already decided before anyone said hello.
Where it all breaks down
It’s not just trade shows: it's everywhere the positioning touches the market.
Ad campaigns built on vague positioning.
Content marketing that doesn’t speak to actual buyer pain.
Sales decks that don’t connect to what’s on the website.
LinkedIn posts that sound like everyone else.
If your positioning is weak, everything downstream is just expensive guesswork.
And what makes this worse in 2026: with AI, it’s easier than ever to sound like everyone else.
You can spin up a homepage in 10 minutes and generate a month of LinkedIn posts before breakfast. You can build a complete ad campaign while you're making coffee.
So. Can. Everyone. Else.
If your outputs are not grounded in product marketing fundamentals - if you don’t know who you’re selling to, what alternatives they’re comparing you against, and why they should choose you - it’s all just noise.
There’s a TikTok trend of people filming tech billboards in San Francisco, because nobody has a clue what any of it means: “AI this”, “Definitive that” - buzzwords on buzzwords.
You can have all the money, all the creative, and the best brand team in the world… but if you’re not speaking clear language to your customer, you’re just going to end up as a meme.
The foundation most companies skip
Most companies are trigger-happy to pour budget into campaigns, content, launches, ads, and all the visible stuff.
But the foundation (the four questions that everything else depends on) is either missing or outdated or just not a priority.
Who are you selling to?
What alternatives are they comparing you against?
Why should they choose you?
How do they actually buy?
If you can’t answer those four questions with specificity, you’re building on sand.
And when 81% of the decision happens before the first call, it just doesn’t make sense.
Teams that skip the foundation work end up spending months (and hundreds of thousands of dollars) trying to fix symptoms instead of the root cause.
Can your positioning survive first contact?
Positioning that survives the buyer journey must be grounded in how buyers actually think, talk, and decide.
If a rep needs to “translate” your positioning into something a buyer will understand, you’ve already lost clarity.
Can you describe your buyer’s “horrible day” in visceral detail? Warning: generic pain points don’t count. “Inefficiency” or “lack of visibility” aren’t painful enough. You need to know what breaks, when, and what it costs them.
I also look at timing. Has your positioning been updated in the last 6 months? If not, it’s probably stale. Markets move, your product changes, Nd buyers evolve… so your positioning should too.
And finally, consistency.
Do prospects who read your website and then join a call feel continuity? Do your marketing materials and sales decks tell the same story? Every disconnect between what they read and what they hear erodes trust.
What actually works
Stop pouring money into execution before you fix the foundation. That trade show, that ad campaign, that content calendar are all bets. And if the positioning underneath them is weak, you’re playing a weak hand.
Clarify who you’re selling to. Not “B2B SaaS companies, $10M to $50M ARR.” That’s 8,000 companies. Who are you selling to in a situation? What happened the week before they started looking for you?
Then understand what they’re comparing you against. Not just direct competitors. What’s the alternative? Doing nothing? Building in-house? A spreadsheet? The real competitor is often inertia, not another vendor.
Get specific about why they should choose you. Not “we’re faster and easier.” Everyone says that. What’s the outcome they get with you that they don’t get anywhere else? What changes for them on Monday morning?
And map how they actually buy. Who’s in the buying committee? What triggers urgency? What kills deals? If you can’t answer these four questions with evidence (not guesses, not assumptions, but actual buyer insight), you’re not ready to scale marketing and sales activities.
The 81% are deciding right now
Somewhere, right now, someone is researching solutions in your category.
They’re reading websites. Trading notes with peers. Comparing options from G2 and analyst reports.
By the time they book a call with you, they’ve already formed an opinion.
If that opinion is “I don’t get it” or “sounds like everyone else,” you’re fighting a losing battle.
But if that opinion is “this is exactly what I need”... if your positioning is sharp, if your messaging resonates, if they feel seen... they've already decided in your favor.
81% decide before the call. The only question is whether you’re giving them a reason to decide to prefer you.