Demand Leadership

SKILL.md

---
name: demand-leadership
description: "Activate when: 'we have a strong product but keep losing on price', 'customers treat us like a commodity', 'how do we stop being compared to competitors', 'why aren't customers coming to us before they write the RFP', 'we want to define the category before someone else does'.
  Do NOT activate when: the customer's problem definition is fixed by regulation or physical constraint (e.g., fuel procurement); or the user is pre-product with no customer intelligence yet."
---

# Demand Leadership

## Overview

The highest-value market position is not to fulfill demand but to *define* it — to become the entity whose framing of the problem the customer adopts as their own. Three stages: **1 — Insight Generation** ("this vendor understands my problem better than I do") → **2 — Value Reconstruction** ("this vendor has redefined how I think about it") → **3 — Scene Creation** ("I go to this vendor before I decide, not after").

**Stop-rule:** Stage 3 = customer asks your opinion *before* deciding. **Cross-skill:** use after `customer-relationship-ladder` + `jobs-to-be-done`; alongside `north-star-metric`; instead of `first-principles` for positioning tasks.

---

## When to Use

**Use when:** customers evaluate on price/features; sales driven by customer-initiated RFPs; strong product losing to weaker competitors with stronger "thought leadership"; no distinctive problem framing competitors don't share; new market entry or post-PMF commoditization risk.
**Do NOT use when:** commodity markets with regulation-fixed problem definitions; pre-Stage-1 companies with no customer intelligence; consumer mass markets (use `social-proof` + `anchoring` first).

---

## Coaching Novices (Adaptive Front Door)

- **Engine mode:** concrete case → run The Process directly.
- **Coach mode:** unfamiliar → guide step by step. In Coach mode, respond one step at a time. Each [WAIT] is a hard stop — output only that step's question, then stop.

1. Ask: "What do your best customers realize about their problem *after* working with you that they didn't before?" Cannot answer → Stage 1.
2. Ask: "If you and your top competitor each had 10 minutes to describe the customer's problem, how would the descriptions differ?" Substantially similar → Stage 1.
3. Ask: "At what point in the customer's decision process do they first contact you?" RFP stage → Stage 1. Problem-definition → Stage 2. Pre-problem → Stage 3.
> **[WAIT — do not advance until user responds]**
4. Ask: "Is there a specific workflow where your product is the *starting point*, not a reference?" Yes → Stage 3 evidence. No → identify target scene.
> **[WAIT — do not advance until user responds]**
5. Name one Stage-up move executable in 60 days with named owner and behavioral success indicator.
> **[WAIT — do not advance until user responds]**

---

## The Process

**Step 1 — Diagnose:** Stage 1 if customers contact you with a defined need and you win within their existing evaluation framework. Stage 2 if customers adopt your vocabulary and report thinking differently. Stage 3 if customers share in-progress decisions before they are formalized.

**Step 2 — Stage-up Move:** 1→2: Find the gap between stated and latent demand; build a falsifiable reframe ("You've been thinking about this as [their frame]. The actual driver is [your frame]."). If competitors can adopt your framing without cost, it is not a reframe. 2→3: Embed your product as the *default starting context* in one customer workflow — a tool they open first, not a tool they reference.

**Step 3 — Measure:** Track customer behavior, not content metrics. 1→2 signal: customers use your terminology in their own internal documents. 2→3 signal: customers contact you before defining the problem. Stage 3 sustained: NRR >120% in top accounts.

### Output: Demand Leadership Stage Map

```
CURRENT STAGE: [ 1 — Insight Generation ] [ 2 — Value Reconstruction ] [ 3 — Scene Creation ]
Evidence: 1._______________ 2._______________
THE GAP — stated want: _______________ | actual driver: _______________ | gap 1–5: ___
STAGE-UP MOVE — target: ___ | action (60 days): _______________ | success indicator: _______________ | owner: ___ due: ___
SCENE (2→3) — target workflow: _______________ | current role: _______________ | embed move: _______________
STOP-RULE: "When do customers first contact us?" RFP stage → Stage 1. Problem-definition → Stage 2. Pre-problem → Stage 3.
```

*→ Method in Action: [McKinsey's Construction of the Trusted Advisor Position (1930s–1960s)](examples/mckinsey-trusted-advisor-1930s-1960s.md)*

---

## Domain Packs

**B2B SaaS:** 1→2: Reframe "workflow automation" → "decision infrastructure." 2→3: Build a decision-tracking tool customers open before any major decision.
**Financial Services:** 1→2: Reframe investment performance → portfolio construction philosophy. 2→3: Produce a proprietary risk framework clients use in investment committee presentations.
**Industrial/Deep Tech:** 1→2: Reframe "component supplier" → "system integrator with domain expertise." 2→3: Embed your engineering team at the requirements stage, not procurement.
*→ Primary sources: [references/sources.md](references/sources.md)*

---

## Applying It Well

- Stage diagnosis must be based on **customer behavior**, not content output or self-assessment.
- The reframe must be **falsifiable** — if competitors can adopt it without cost, it is a positioning statement.
- Scene Creation requires **operational embedding**, not relationship intensity or goodwill.
- **Vocabulary test** (fastest Stage 2 diagnostic): do customers use your terminology with each other?

---

## Common Rationalizations

**[D] = designed upfront | [O] = observed in real use. [O] entries are more valuable.**

| Fake move | Reality |
|-----------|---------|
| [D] "We publish a monthly newsletter — thought leadership." | Stage 2 = customers cite your framing in their own strategic documents, not subscribe to yours. |
| [D] "We've redefined our category in marketing materials." | A category redefinition in your own copy is a claim. Stage 2 requires the customer to adopt the frame. |
| [D] "We won a deal because the customer chose us for expertise." | Winning within the customer's existing evaluation framework is Stage 1. |
| [D] "We have a Customer Advisory Board." | CABs are Stage 1 feedback loops. Stage 3 inverts it — you give input into their decisions. |
| [D] "Customers say we're a strategic partner." | Self-reported partnership is Stage 2 at best. Stage 3 is behavioral: contact before deciding. |
| [D] "We're the category leader by market share." | Market share is a lagging indicator. A large Stage 1 player is not a demand leader. |
| *→ Add [O] entries here after each real use — paste the actual failure pattern* | *What went wrong and why* |

---

## Red Flags

- Customers contact you at RFP stage — problem already defined before reaching you
- Differentiation narrative uses same vocabulary as competitors ("best-in-class," "AI-powered")
- Thought leadership content gets engagement but zero evidence of customer behavior change
- Customer internal documents use none of your distinctive vocabulary
- 3+ year customers still evaluate you using criteria you did not establish

---

## Verification

- [ ] Stage assigned from customer behavior evidence, not marketing content
- [ ] Latent demand gap named: stated want vs. actual driver
- [ ] Stage-up move executable in 60 days, named owner
- [ ] Success indicator is a customer behavior change (not views/downloads)
- [ ] Stop-rule checked: RFP-stage contact → Stage 3 claim retracted
- [ ] Stage 2: vocabulary test run — customers use your terminology in their own documents
- [ ] Stage 3 target: specific scene named, embed move designed

---

*Part of **deciqAI Knowledge Skills** — open-source thinking skills that make rigor executable for AI agents. Built by deciqAI · https://deciqai.com · Contributions welcome — see the template at the repo root.*