Positioning: The Sentence That Excludes 95% of Clients
As of 2026-08-16
Most SAP analytics consultants describe what they do to everyone, and it converts almost no one. The fix is one sentence, built from three columns — client situation, the problem in the client's language, and the mechanism only you use — sharp enough to exclude 95% of the market on purpose, so the remaining 5% self-select into a call. That sentence is why one Datasphere architect's LinkedIn headline opens the day-rate conversation as an investment in a known problem, while a generic 'SAP data expert' headline opens it as a cost to be negotiated down. This module gives the three-column method, five worked niche sentences across DACH manufacturing, financial-services SAC, post-merger Datasphere, EMEA BDC advisory and the French public sector, plus three tests — exclusion, recognition, Google — to run before publishing.
What you will learn
- Construct a three-column positioning map from your own client history that reveals the niche pattern across client type, pain statement, and mechanism
- Write a positioning sentence that simultaneously names a specific client situation, a specific problem, and your distinctive approach — and that fails the 'available to everyone' test
- Apply the three validation tests — exclusion, recognition, and Google — to confirm the sentence repels the wrong clients and resonates with the right ones
- Distinguish between your public positioning sentence and the broader scope of work you may actually take on, and articulate why keeping the public sentence sharp is strategically correct
The Problem With Being Available to Everyone
Every SAP analytics consultant who has tried to grow their client base has, at some point, written a version of this sentence: 'I work with organisations of all sizes across multiple industries to deliver end-to-end SAP analytics solutions.' It is a sentence that excludes no one. It also attracts no one.
The paradox of positioning is that the sentence which repels 95% of potential clients makes the remaining 5% feel that you were built for them. That feeling — 'this person is exactly right for our problem' — is what converts a browsing headhunter into a call, and a call into a signed contract at the day rate you want.
This module is about building that sentence: what it contains, how to construct it, and how it changes your conversations with clients and recruiters.
What a Positioning Sentence Must Accomplish
A sharp positioning sentence does four things simultaneously:
Prerequisites
- Review core concepts first: C083, C087, C079
Outcomes
- Understand the core concepts behind positioning: the sentence that excludes 95% of clients
- Apply Positioning in a typical SAP analytics engagement
- Explain the core architecture and decision points for Positioning: The Sentence That Excludes 95% of Clients
- Apply a repeatable implementation pattern in a 15-minute lab format
Full module available to members. The full module adds: the decision framework · the end-to-end scenario walkthrough · the KPI scorecard · the anti-patterns · the knowledge check · the diagrams.