The Wedge: A way to make space in a busy market
Use The Wedge framework to differentiate your offer and close high ticket deals.
Every digital agency and consultant is in a crowded market with lots of competition.
Buyers have lots of options that look and sounds the same!
People are drawn to what’s different, and being different leads to interest, which leads to consideration and eventually to sales.
Even in a crowded market, you can make space, stand out and acquire right fit clients by building a wedge and driving it into the market.
The Wedge has three parts:
Problem
Offer
Point of view
Each part must be right sized to ensure it enters and sticks in the market.
Below is a crash course on assembling your own wedge that will help you:
Differentiate yourself in a crowded market
Charge a premium
Attract right fit clients
NOTE - As you’re working on your wedge, remember that each side isn’t built in isolation, they are built together.
Side 1: Problem
Review customer calls and understand what they’re saying.
There are three angles to consider in a conversation with a prospect. We’ll call this “say, mean, and need.”
What they say:
“I want more leads or sales.”
What they mean:
They want more conversations for sales reps or more repeat business.
What they actually need:
They need a repeatable content and ad framework they can install in their business.
Master all three, and you’ll master the ability to refine your wedge.
Action Steps:
Run 5 sales calls and note what prospects say, mean, and need.
Identify the common thread in phrases, pain points, and outcomes.
Turn this into a problem statement, e.g., “You’re running marketing campaigns but have no idea which one has scale potential.”
Side 2: Offer
Turn your offer into something tangible.
Once you understand the pain points and desired outcomes, brainstorm how to stack your expertise to solve the problem. This shifts you from selling services to selling a solution, which helps you charge more because you’re positioned around solving a problem.
Action Steps:
Use past experience to list services in your solution, e.g., paid ads, landing pages, email marketing.
Write down how these skills can get them an outcome. Be as technical as needed.
Example:
“I’ll use GA4 to set up KPIs, optimise Google Ads for better traffic, and use lead magnets and email marketing to nurture leads. Tracked demo forms or conversations will be attributed to marketing.”
Strip it back and simplify for the client’s understanding.
Example:
“Develop a campaign baseline and optimise landing pages and email funnels to drive sales conversations.”
Turn it into a tangible offer by including a thread of the problem, desired outcome, and how clients can work with you.
Example:
“Understand which campaigns drive sales conversations and get guidance on optimizing and scaling them to generate more revenue. I offer two options: Done-With-You coaching or Done-For-You implementation.”
Side 3: Point of view on their problem
Create your point of view.
Your point of view needs to be interesting, or no one will care. If you know your customers well enough, you’ll know what they care about.
If you can demonstrate your understanding about what they care about, your point of view will get them interested.
Action Steps:
Using insight from side 1, assemble a question you can ask the person with the problem that makes them lean in.
Example: “What’s your most effective marketing campaign and why?”
Expand your problem statement and add more pain points.
Example: “You’re running marketing campaigns but can’t forecast which ones to scale. This means you rely on gut feeling and think spending more equals better results.”
Show them what life looks like when the problem is fixed.
Example:
“When done right, your marketing becomes a lead generation machine, giving you insight and a steady client pipeline, so you can stop scrambling to find deals.”
Link their problem to your solution.
Example: “I help small marketing departments plan, set up, and run marketing campaigns that drive insight and customer conversations.”
Final Action Step:
Fill out the following for each side of your wedge:
Problem
Example:
The problem is that you’re running marketing campaigns but have no idea what one has scale potential. This means you can’t forecast for marketing properly, rely on “gut feeling” and have believe the more you spend the more you get.
Offer
Example:
Understand what campaigns drive sales conversations and receive guidance on how to optimise and scale them so you can generate more revenue. I do this in two ways:
A done with you coaching engagement where you implement my solution with guidance.
A done for you engagement where I take ownership and implement my solution in your business.
POV on problem
Example:
It’s easy to throw money at marketing and hope it works. Most marketing is based on “gut feeling” and spending money on ads, making it hard to create budgets or gather solid insight. By deploying [the name of your offer], your marketing becomes a lead generation machine that provides clear insights and a path to ongoing client acquisition, so you can stop scrambling for deals your team doesn’t even enjoy working on.
Deploying Your Wedge
The Wedge will be rough at first and needs refinement, but you have to drive it into the market.
Ways to drive your wedge into the market:
New sales conversations (my personal fave at the moment)
Current clients
LinkedIn
Events