# CoreQuest Workshop
## The Worksheets

*CoreQuest Workshop © by Teresa Patrick, licensed under [CC BY-SA 4.0](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). The Marketing Deliverables frameworks are commonly used industry frameworks included for convenience and are not part of the license.*

Work through the worksheets **in order**. The sequence is the method: Customers first, then your Product/Service, then the Connections between the two. Messaging comes last, and not in a group setting.

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# Part 1: Customer Focus

The purpose of this section is to focus the attention of your team on your customer. It is important to have people in the room who can effectively represent your customers' point of view.

Ideally, team members will gain new insight into your customers' wants, needs, motivations, constraints, mindset and priorities. Even if the information is not entirely new to all of you, spending time focused on the details of your customers' world will help shift your team's frame of reference during subsequent conversations about products and customer benefits.

New insights often come from looking at familiar information in new ways. The more you focus on the context in which your buyers work and make decisions, the better you will be able to develop compelling messaging and effective campaign strategies to reach them.

## Worksheet 1: Customer Descriptions

List and describe your top ten customers. Customers can include individuals who are empowered to make buying decisions as well as individuals who strongly influence sales by recommending or advocating for your product or services with the ultimate buyer. Define each person's role and level of influence.

1. Title/Role — Description:
2. Title/Role — Description:
3. Title/Role — Description:
4. Title/Role — Description:
5. Title/Role — Description:
6. Title/Role — Description:
7. Title/Role — Description:
8. Title/Role — Description:
9. Title/Role — Description:
10. Title/Role — Description:

## Worksheet 2: Customer Responsibilities

Select a specific customer or related set of customers from the previous list. What are the top ten job responsibilities they need to fulfill in any given month or quarter?

Selected customer (from Worksheet 1): ______________

1. Responsibility — Description:
2. Responsibility — Description:
3. Responsibility — Description:
4. Responsibility — Description:
5. Responsibility — Description:
6. Responsibility — Description:
7. Responsibility — Description:
8. Responsibility — Description:
9. Responsibility — Description:
10. Responsibility — Description:

## Worksheet 3: Customer Tasks

For a given customer or related set of customers, what are ten job tasks they need to accomplish in a typical quarter?

Selected customer (from Worksheet 1): ______________

1. Task — Description:
2. Task — Description:
3. Task — Description:
4. Task — Description:
5. Task — Description:
6. Task — Description:
7. Task — Description:
8. Task — Description:
9. Task — Description:
10. Task — Description:

## Worksheet 4: Customer Challenges

For a given customer or related set of customers, what are the top challenges they need to overcome in any given month or quarter? You could run this exercise as: **top things that could get your customer fired or derail your customer's career.** The point is to get everyone focused on specific problems that motivate action.

Selected customer (from Worksheet 1): ______________

1. Challenge — Description:
2. Challenge — Description:
3. Challenge — Description:
4. Challenge — Description:
5. Challenge — Description:
6. Challenge — Description:
7. Challenge — Description:
8. Challenge — Description:
9. Challenge — Description:
10. Challenge — Description:

## Worksheet 5: Customer Motivations

For a given customer or related set of customers, what are ten top personal motivations to consider? This exercise could be run as: **what are the top ten things that could get this person promoted, reduce their job stress, or help them gain status** — whatever makes the most sense for your customer base.

Selected customer (from Worksheet 1): ______________

1. Motivation — Description:
2. Motivation — Description:
3. Motivation — Description:
4. Motivation — Description:
5. Motivation — Description:
6. Motivation — Description:
7. Motivation — Description:
8. Motivation — Description:
9. Motivation — Description:
10. Motivation — Description:

## Worksheet 6: Customer Chain of Trust

Who do your customers trust? For a given customer describe the top ten trusted sources of information and recommendations for products or services related to your offering. Why are they trusted? This exercise is especially useful for marketing strategy decisions.

**Note:** AI assistants (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Copilot) sit on nearly every customer's chain of trust — often above analysts and review sites. Include them; Worksheet 14's Exploring Solutions step covers how to assess what those assistants actually say about you. Also ask: **where in this chain might a prospect lose trust and disengage before ever contacting us?** There is no transcript of a conversation that didn't happen — this worksheet is the only place that insight gets captured.

Selected customer (from Worksheet 1): ______________

1. Trusted Source — Description, why trusted, level of influence (high–low):
2. Trusted Source — Description, why trusted, level of influence (high–low):
3. Trusted Source — Description, why trusted, level of influence (high–low):
4. Trusted Source — Description, why trusted, level of influence (high–low):
5. Trusted Source — Description, why trusted, level of influence (high–low):
6. Trusted Source — Description, why trusted, level of influence (high–low):
7. Trusted Source — Description, why trusted, level of influence (high–low):
8. Trusted Source — Description, why trusted, level of influence (high–low):
9. Trusted Source — Description, why trusted, level of influence (high–low):
10. Trusted Source — Description, why trusted, level of influence (high–low):

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# Part 2: Product/Service Focus

Finally! It's time to talk about your company, product or service. In this section we will start with a detailed description of your offering. This section also provides an opportunity to discuss the competitive landscape. It sets the stage for the high-value conversations to follow around the connections between what your customers want and need and what your products or services offer.

Why bother spending time describing your product or services when everyone in the room already knows what you sell? Because the more familiar you are with something, the harder it is to find unique ways of describing or promoting it.

No one knows your stuff better than you do, but it takes focused effort to force your brain to think about it in fresh ways. That is why "brainstorming" around high-familiarity topics is often ineffective. The CoreQuest program is designed around the concept of **"framestorming"** — finding new frames of reference for describing familiar concepts.

**Please note:** Sometimes marketing can get so clever and benefits-oriented that potential buyers have no idea what product or service you are offering. Sure, I'd like to increase revenue, get fit faster and turn my own customer base into cult followers who will rise as one thunderous multitude, proclaiming the greatness of me and my product. But what, specifically, are you proposing to give me in return for my money, email or attention? Specific, detailed product descriptions help your team avoid this common mistake.

**A second warning: don't train customers not to trust you.** A claim can be technically true but functionally untenable — glamorous in the deck, disappointing in week two. If customers bite and then realize they've been had, you hit a short-term goal at the cost of long-term trust. The "current truth vs. roadmap" discipline in these worksheets is the antidote; use it on your claims, not just your features.

## Worksheet 7: Product Description

What is your product or service? In other words, what will a customer get in exchange for money (or time, community contributions, etc.)?

Product or Service Name: ______________

1. Specific thing your customer will get — Description:
2. Specific thing your customer will get — Description:
3. Specific thing your customer will get — Description:
4. Specific thing your customer will get — Description:
5. Specific thing your customer will get — Description:
6. Specific thing your customer will get — Description:
7. Specific thing your customer will get — Description:
8. Specific thing your customer will get — Description:
9. Specific thing your customer will get — Description:
10. Specific thing your customer will get — Description:

## Worksheet 8: Product Features

For your product or service offering, what are the top ten features that benefit customers?

**Note:** be relentless about current truth vs roadmap here. Features that ship today go on this list. Roadmap items go on a separate, clearly labeled list. An AI grounded on a document that blurs the two will confidently market vaporware.

Product or Service Name: ______________

1. Feature — Description:
2. Feature — Description:
3. Feature — Description:
4. Feature — Description:
5. Feature — Description:
6. Feature — Description:
7. Feature — Description:
8. Feature — Description:
9. Feature — Description:
10. Feature — Description:

## Worksheet 9: Competitors and Alternatives

What are the top alternatives to your product or service? One alternative may be "doing nothing." If so, your description should include key reasons to "do nothing" rather than seek and select a solution.

Product or Service Name: ______________

1. Alternative — Description:
2. Alternative — Description:
3. Alternative — Description:
4. Alternative — Description:
5. Alternative — Description:
6. Alternative — Description:
7. Alternative — Description:
8. Alternative — Description:
9. Alternative — Description:
10. Alternative — Description:

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# Part 3: Connections Focus

This section lays the groundwork for both messaging and marketing strategy. In it, you will explore the connections between what you sell and what customers want and need.

**Process note:** It is common for ideas for specific messaging or marketing campaigns to surface during this exercise. Sometimes ideas are so compelling that some team members want to cut short the connections discussion so that they can begin iterating on those ideas. The recommended approach is to write down new ideas as they come up and then continue with the connections exercises. Allow at least a day for reflection before engaging in follow-up discussions of the new ideas. Continuing the connections discussion and allowing time for reflection typically results in a richer and more productive message development process.

## Worksheet 10: Product Connections

For your product or service offering, how does what you sell connect to customer wants and needs?

Product or Service Name: ______________

1. Connection — Description:
2. Connection — Description:
3. Connection — Description:
4. Connection — Description:
5. Connection — Description:
6. Connection — Description:
7. Connection — Description:
8. Connection — Description:
9. Connection — Description:
10. Connection — Description:

## Worksheet 11: Product Benefits

For your product or service offering, what are the top ten benefits customers receive? This section will help you turn the previous connections discussion into benefit statements — in the customer's own language — for use in marketing materials.

Product or Service Name: ______________

1. Benefit — Description:
2. Benefit — Description:
3. Benefit — Description:
4. Benefit — Description:
5. Benefit — Description:
6. Benefit — Description:
7. Benefit — Description:
8. Benefit — Description:
9. Benefit — Description:
10. Benefit — Description:

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# Part 4: Deliverables

This section turns your completed worksheets into two working deliverables: messaging and positioning statements for your human channels, and the AI Context Pack (Worksheet 15) that grounds your AI tools. They're built from the same insight; create both.

The goal of every deliverable here is what marketers call a **quick get**: messaging so simple and clear that customers instantly understand your offer, why it matters to them, and what to do next. The quest is slow and human. The get is instant.

But a quick get must also be a **fair get**. Test every claim: is it not just technically true but functionally tenable — will the customer's week-two experience match it? A quick get built on an untenable claim is just a fast way to teach customers (and future AI tools providing product recommendations) not to trust you.

**Note:** It generally takes twelve to eighteen months of consistent marketing efforts to "land" a message in the market to the point that your target audience is generally aware of your messaging and associates it with your brand. Ongoing refinements to wording and design in response to customer feedback and behavior make sense, but be aware that frequent shifts in core messaging can create confusion in your market.

**Do not complete this section in a group setting.** Give your creatives time to reflect, with access to subject matter experts as needed. Drafts can be reviewed and refined with the larger team.

*The deliverables materials below are commonly used frameworks included for convenience. They are not included in the Creative Commons license.*

## Worksheet 12: Messaging and Positioning Framework

**Purpose.** Provide [Your Company] positioning and messaging guidance for [define target audience].

**Strategy.** [Your company]'s strategy is to target [audience], providing [value] to address [unmet need].

**Primary Audience.** The primary audience is [x], characterized by [activities or job responsibilities]. Adjacent audiences also targeted include [...], characterized by [activities, needs and/or job responsibilities]. The more specific your audience definition, the easier it is to craft effective messaging targeted for that audience.

**Perception — Current.** What is the current level of awareness of your company and/or product/offering among your target audience? If the answer is "zero," what is the current level of awareness of the solution space you are in? Are you a new entrant in an established category or are you creating a new category?

**Perception — Future.** What do you want your target audience to know or believe about your company or offering in the future?

**Customer Challenges.**
- Problem your target audience faces that your offering helps address — description of the problem and its impact
- Problem your target audience faces that your offering helps address — description of the problem and its impact

*Note: challenges can also include problems that could impact your audience's buying decision — creating objections that you need to overcome.*

**Tagline:**

**10–25 word Value Prop.** A value proposition is a short statement that expresses the value your product or service offers from your customers' point of view. It is not a description of features.

**75 word Value Prop:**

**150 word Value Prop:**

**Pillars.** A Pillar is a short phrase that represents a high-priority value proposition that you want to land with your audience.

**Key Messages (aligned to each Pillar).** Key messages are short statements that describe the value you deliver aligned with the Pillar phrase.

## Worksheet 13: Positioning Statement and Value Propositions

*Adapted from a framework developed by Hank Barnes.*
### Positioning Statement

A positioning statement should succinctly express your business/product/service strategy — from your customers' point of view. Primarily used internally to ensure public-facing content and messaging is strategically aligned. A useful framework:

> For [customer description], who need [problem they need to solve] and want [social and emotional motivations], [product/service name] is [product description or category] that [what it does]. Unlike [competitors and alternative approaches], [your product/service name] [description of how/why it is a better solution].

**Example:**

> For marketing professionals who need to develop targeted, effective marketing messaging and want to collaborate more closely with clients and colleagues, the CoreQuest Process is a business collaboration tool that elicits key insights about why customers want and need your products and services to inform effective marketing strategy and message development. Unlike traditional brainstorming sessions or product briefings, the CoreQuest Process creates the conditions under which product, sales and marketing experts are able to bypass unconscious pattern-based thinking processes to unlock fresh, innovative ideas.

### Value Proposition Statements

A value proposition is a short statement or series of statements that express the value your product or service offers to a specific customer category. Value proposition statements may be repeated as written in public-facing content. Creating multiple versions of different lengths allows for insertion in a wide variety of channels from ad copy to social media to white papers and product brochures.

- **10 word value proposition:**
- **25 word value proposition:**
- **75 word value proposition:**
- **150 word value proposition:**

## Worksheet 14: Customer Journey Friction Assessment

How easy is it for customers to access your service? How easy is it to acquire, learn, use and get value from a competitor service? What are switching costs? What about ecosystem benefits? Is psychological safety a factor (e.g. you can't get fired for buying IBM)? How easy is it for your customers to get through internal budget approval and vendor onboarding processes?

**Awareness.** How easy is it to learn about your product? What might hinder a customer from discovering your offering? What misconceptions might they have?
- Awareness program 1 — Description, assessment:
- Awareness program 2 — Description, assessment:
- Awareness program 3 — Description, assessment:

**Exploring Solutions.** How readily can potential customers find your product/service in response to a relevant problem-solving question? Your customers ask these questions of AI assistants as well as search engines, so test both. For each question — phrased verbatim in your customers' words, drawn from the Challenges worksheet — check your search ranking, then ask the major AI assistants (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Copilot) and record:

- Does the assistant mention your company/product? If yes: is the description accurate, and is it current truth or two years stale?
- Who does it recommend instead? That's your real competitive set for this question.
- What sources do the answers appear to draw on — reviews, docs, comparison articles, your own site?
- Does it surface past disappointment ("users report that…")? That's trust debt coming due.

Repeat for at least five questions; patterns matter more than any single answer. Then discuss: where you're absent, what content would need to exist — publicly, in plain customer language — for that to change? Where you're described inaccurately, what is the assistant reading, and what should it be reading instead?

*Moderator's note: this exercise is often the moment skeptics lean in. Watching an AI recommend a competitor makes the cost of unwritten insight concrete in a way no slide deck can.*

- Problem-solving question — search rank / assistant answers / gaps:
- Problem-solving question — search rank / assistant answers / gaps:
- Problem-solving question — search rank / assistant answers / gaps:

**Evaluating Alternatives.** How readily can potential customers get the information they need to evaluate your product/service?
- Evaluation option — description and assessment:
- Evaluation option — description and assessment:
- Evaluation option — description and assessment:

**Justification.** Primarily relevant to enterprise sales. What steps must customers take to get approval to purchase (budget approval, legal review, security review, operations approval)? What can you provide to simplify that process for them?
- Justification step — description and suggestions for simplification:
- Justification step — description and suggestions for simplification:
- Justification step — description and suggestions for simplification:

**Acquisition.** How easily can customers purchase or acquire your product/service? What are the steps involved and how can you streamline them?
- Acquisition step — notes on friction points:
- Acquisition step — notes on friction points:
- Acquisition step — notes on friction points:

**Implementation.** What are the steps involved in deploying and using your product? How can you streamline them?
- Implementation step — notes on friction points:
- Implementation step — notes on friction points:
- Implementation step — notes on friction points:

**Expansion.** Does your product or service require employee training? Does it need to be evangelized internally in order to gain traction?
- Expansion requirement — notes on friction points:
- Expansion requirement — notes on friction points:
- Expansion requirement — notes on friction points:

**Customer Service.** How easy is it for customers to get needed support — either directly from you or from a community-based system?
- Step in support process — notes on friction points:
- Step in support process — notes on friction points:
- Step in support process — notes on friction points:

**Upgrades.** What are the steps required to upgrade, from awareness of upgrade availability to acquisition and deployment?
- Step in upgrade process — notes on friction points:
- Step in upgrade process — notes on friction points:
- Step in upgrade process — notes on friction points:

**Upselling.** How easily can customers learn about other offers from your company that might be useful to them?
- Upselling opportunity — notes on friction points:
- Upselling opportunity — notes on friction points:
- Upselling opportunity — notes on friction points:


## Worksheet 15: The AI Context Pack

The second deliverable, and for many teams the more consequential one: your completed worksheets, assembled into a set of plain-text documents formatted for the AI tools your team uses — a Claude Project, a custom GPT, a sales-enablement tool. Once deployed, every email, landing page and campaign your AI drafts is grounded in the workshop's insight instead of generic filler. The completed worksheets have always made excellent onboarding material for new colleagues; this is the same onboarding, for your AI.

**Format principles:**

- **Plain text or Markdown.** No slides, no design. AI tools ingest simple structured text best.
- **Customer language, not internal language.** Use the exact words that surfaced in the Customer worksheets.
- **Current truth, flagged and dated.** Distinguish shipped from roadmap explicitly. Date the pack; stale context produces confident errors.
- **Attribution stays in.** Name the contributors next to their insights. Provenance is the point.
- **Density beats volume.** Keep each section to one page or less.

**The nine sections** (a fill-in template is included in this kit as the AI Context Pack Template):

1. **Who We Serve** — from Customer Descriptions, Responsibilities, Tasks
2. **What Keeps Them Up at Night** — from Challenges and Motivations
3. **Who They Trust** — from Chain of Trust, including known trust gaps
4. **What We Actually Sell — Current Truth** — from Product Description and Features, shipped and roadmap clearly split and dated
5. **The Real Alternatives** — from Competitors and Alternatives, including "doing nothing"
6. **Why It Matters to Them** — from Connections and Benefits
7. **How to Sound Like Us — and Like Them** — positioning, value propositions, and the customer-language glossary from Worksheets 12–13
8. **Where the Journey Breaks** — from the Friction Assessment above
9. **Contributors and Provenance** — who contributed which insight; questions about any section go to its named contributor

**Deploying the pack:** drop it into your team's shared AI workspace so every team member's AI drafts start from the same ground truth. Review quarterly and after every release — an outdated Section 4 is worse than no Section 4. When the pack changes, credit the person whose new insight changed it. (If your team used CoreQuest Session, the pack is generated for you, attribution included.)