Insight certainty 4/5 debate potential 3/5

Dunford: The hero's journey framework fails for B2B sales storytelling

April Dunford · Best of 2024: The Blueprint for a Transformative New Year · Dec 24, 2024 · at 28:51

Positioning expert April Dunford discusses why traditional narrative frameworks taught in marketing schools fail to close B2B enterprise deals.

0:00 / 0:16exact quote · 17.0s
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“The problem with that storytelling arc is there's kind of no competitor in there, and if we think about what a buyer is actually trying to figure out is, why pick you over the other guys? A hero's journey doesn't really give us an arc To do that.”

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