Danny Walsh breaks down a three-part framework for positioning: Must-Have (essential resources like equipment), Must-Prove (proof points that establish expertise), and Must-Do (client actions that guarantee results). Using carp fishing as an example, he shows how these three elements form a defensible value proposition that protects both the business and its reputation.
And if you combine this together in a statement, put a little bit about you and a little bit of extra on one page. When somebody says, hey, what do you do? You say, I help carp fishermen achieve their fishing goals. I do it through the best tackle, the best advice, and events. Ah, tell me more. The must-have will get rid of the wrong people, right? Because if they have to have that equipment and they've no money to buy any equipment, well, they can't achieve the goal, so it gets rid of them. Right? You can't help them if they don't have the equipment, so they either buy it from you or they get it from somewhere else. The must prove is going to underpin your content strategy, right? What do they— what do they need to see? What is it that you need to prove to them, right? What can they actually see? So if I'm doing training about fishing, showing people how to, how to catch, uh, big fish and cast the fishing rod, I then become an expert. What are you doing that you can now demonstrate Right, you see how this is working? And this is so important because this is your proof that you've already been sat on and you've just overlooked it. And then the must-do, it protects your reputation and it protects their results because if they don't do it, they're going to fail. And if they don't do it, they can't blame you, right? They've got to commit to some stuff. So fishermen need to commit to going fishing. You're never going to achieve that fishing goal. You can't come to me for a refund and say, hey Danny, I bought all this fishing tackle and I did all your training I didn't catch any fish. You're like, well, dude, did you go fishing? And like, no, it's like, oh, it didn't work, right? That trio, that like a fire triangle, you've got to have all three sides. Means that when you say I help this person to achieve this goal, I do it through something they must have, something must prove, something must do. That's bombproof. I've made people cry with this, this thing where they've took 10 years to figure some stuff out and they're like, oh, for the first time in my life I've seen it.
