Shift your battlecards from highlighting competitive features to competitive value, and you’ll start growing revenue from existing accounts much faster.

Here’s the problem with traditional battlecards: they push your team into feature-pitching mode. When that happens, sales conversations get noisy. 

You end up listing differentiators your buyer doesn’t care about, instead of telling a story about how you solve their specific problem better and faster.

The best competitive positioning? It’s not a spec sheet—it’s guided storytelling.

• You’ve heard the problem the buyer is trying to solve. 
• Maybe you’ve uncovered the alternatives they’re considering. 
• Now you want to position elements of your solution most likely to drive value
• And you want to show why your path to success is faster and more reliable than alternatives

To do this well, your competitive battlecards need four parts:

1️⃣ Your Value

Start with a core set of value props. A value prop tells a story about a common buyer problem that your product or service addresses to improve goal achievement and help a customer end up in a more successful place.     

There are probably only three or four value props your company can do really well.  These organizational goals may include things like growing revenue, reducing costs, improving staff or operational efficiency, improving recruitment or retention, changing a user experience, etc.

For Example: “A company that has a platform to unify disparate data sets might have three value props —  faster time to decision-making, reduced internal friction and high cross-team productivity as well as lower operating costs.”

You can build a competitive battlecard around each value prop.  Right at the top right a short summary of the opportunity-solution statement.

2️⃣ To Whom

The battlecard should continue by highlighting the value to each persona or buying role on the buying committee.  The overall value prop needs to be personalized.

Continuing with an example platform that unifies disparate data:

• Business users care about ease of use, time savings, and better decision-making. Show how your solution improves daily workflows.
  
• Technical buyers prioritize integration, security, and scalability. Address how you reduce friction with existing systems.
  
• Executives focus on ROI, speed to impact, and alignment with strategic goals. Connect your value to key business outcomes.

When every persona sees how your solution helps them win, you create momentum. It’s not just about product fit—it’s about making each stakeholder feel invested in the success story.

3️⃣ Discovery and Storytelling

Your battlecard should continue with a guided set of discovery questions that encourage your buyer to build their own conclusions about how your product or service delivers value.

Think about your discovery and storytelling at three levels

• Capability Stories: show how your product closes existing process, software, or staffing gaps to goal achievement
  
• Customer Stories: points to examples of how other similar customers solved the same problem, and highlight the business outcomes or ROI
  
• Outcome Stories: As much as possible, make claims about a predictable business result or outcome that is repeatable across your stories.

4️⃣ Competitive Statement

Now, finally, you are positioned to do a competitive positioning statement that tells a story about why you are the best solution.

At the bottom of your card, name your top 3 to 4 competitors for each value prop. Then add a one or two-line positioning statement on why your solution is better aligned to success.

Example: “Unlike [Competitor X], our platform delivers insights without requiring custom integrations—so you move faster with less lift.”

Competitive battlecards aren’t about out-feature-ing your competitors. They’re about owning the value conversation—with the right buyer, at the right moment, in the right way. When you anchor your positioning in value, story, and persona fit, you win faster and build deeper account trust.