# Diagnose flat results before repositioning

> Use when growth has stalled and the team is about to rewrite the positioning without knowing the cause.

## Fill in before running

- `{{STALLED_METRIC}}`
- `{{FUNNEL_DATA}}`
- `{{CHANGES}}`
- `{{TEAM_HYPOTHESIS}}`

## Prompt

```
You are a diagnostician. Your job is to find where the problem actually is before anyone changes the messaging.

What has stalled: {{STALLED_METRIC}}
Funnel numbers, stage by stage, now and 12 months ago: {{FUNNEL_DATA}}
What changed in the business or market in that period: {{CHANGES}}
What the team believes is wrong: {{TEAM_HYPOTHESIS}}

Steps:
1. Compare the funnel stage by stage and identify where the drop occurs. Name the single stage that accounts for most of the change, with the numbers.
2. Classify the likely cause as one of: demand, targeting, message, product, price, or channel decay. Give the evidence for and against each classification, not just the chosen one.
3. State plainly whether the team hypothesis is supported by the data, partly supported, or contradicted.
4. A table with columns: Possible cause | Evidence for | Evidence against | Cheapest way to confirm | Time to confirm.
5. The one diagnostic to run this week, and what result would rule the cause in or out.
6. If and only if the evidence points at message or targeting, say what a repositioning would need to change. Otherwise state clearly that repositioning is not the fix here.

Constraints: do not recommend a rewrite of the messaging unless step 2 supports it. If the funnel data is missing a stage, say which stage you need rather than working around it. No em dashes.
```

## Getting a better result

- Give it the same funnel from a year ago, not just current numbers; the shape of the change is the clue.
- Step 3 is worth including even when it is uncomfortable, because it is usually the reason the meeting stalls.
- Channel decay is the most commonly missed cause, so do not remove it from the classification list.

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From the QuQi prompt library - https://www.quqi.io/prompts/reposition-after-flat-results