In this note
- Why sameness gets you cut
- The five questions
- Scoring yourself
- Checking it with real buyers
- Do this this week
- Questions people ask
There's a story we tell a lot in the studio, because it explains positioning better than any diagram. In 1862 Charles Darwin was sent an orchid from Madagascar with a nectar spur around 30 centimetres long. The nectar sat at the very bottom. He predicted that somewhere on the island there must be a moth with a tongue long enough to reach it. People thought it was a stretch. Decades later, the moth was found.
The flower and its pollinator fit so closely that nothing else could do the job. That's what we mean by an orchid brand: one shaped so precisely around a particular buyer that a rival can't copy the fit. Weeds are the opposite. They'll grow anywhere, which sounds like a strength until you realise nobody ever goes looking for one.
Why sameness gets you cut
Last week we looked at how AI assistants decide who to name. One pattern stands out. When a buyer asks for a recommendation, assistants reach for brands that are clear about who they're for. "Accounting for construction firms with 10 to 50 staff" is easy to recommend to the right person. "Innovative, client-focused accounting solutions" is not easy to recommend to anyone.
People behave the same way. When five brands make the same promise, the champion has nothing to repeat to the boss, the money compares on price, and "do nothing" picks up the deals nobody could tell apart. Fitness gets you shortlisted. Difference gets you chosen.
If a rival's name fits your claim just as well, it isn't a reason to choose you.
The five questions
The Orchid Test is five statements. For each one, decide honestly whether it's true for your brand today. Not whether it could be true, or whether it's in the strategy document. Whether a buyer would see it.
1. We can name the one buyer, and the moment, we're the obvious choice for.
Not a demographic. A specific person in a specific situation. "The operations manager at a mid-sized freight business whose current system can't track returns" passes. "Businesses that value quality" doesn't.
2. We solve a problem our rivals treat as a sideline.
An orchid brand has a centre of gravity. There's a problem it takes more seriously than anyone else, one that others mention on page four of their capability statement. If your main problem is everyone else's main problem too, you're competing on volume.
3. We have a story only we can tell, with evidence.
Every brand has a founding story. The question is whether yours explains why you're better for this buyer, and whether you can back it up. Evidence might be named clients, a method you can show, or results you can stand behind.
4. A rival would dispute our claim.
This is the one that stings. If no competitor would ever argue with your positioning, it's probably not a position. Real positions take a side. "Fixed prices are better than hourly billing for this kind of work" is a claim someone would argue with. "We care about our clients" is not.
5. Our best customer could say why us in one sentence.
The final test is out loud. Ask a client who loves you to explain why they chose you, in one breath, to someone who's never heard of you. If they struggle, or if the answer is "they're just really good", the reason exists but it isn't sharp enough to travel.
Scoring yourself
Count the statements that are honestly true. Zero or one is common, and nothing to be embarrassed about. Most brands start as weeds because trying to suit everyone feels safer than choosing. Two or three means there's a real orchid in there that isn't yet clear to buyers. Four or five means you have a position. Now check whether your website, sales deck and AI answers all say the same thing.
The trap is scoring yourself on intent. Teams often know exactly who they're for and simply haven't said it anywhere a buyer would see. The test is about what a buyer meets, not what's in the workshop notes.
Checking it with real buyers
A workshop can tell you what you believe. Only buyers can tell you whether it's true. That's why, when we run the Orchid Test with clients, we don't stop at the five answers. We write two or three genuinely different positions, put them in front of real buyers from the market, and write down which we expect to win before we look.
Sometimes the team's favourite wins. Often it doesn't. Either way, the position you keep has beaten something, which is a much stronger place to stand than a choice made because it felt right in a meeting room.
Do this this week
- Run the swap test. Copy the main claim from your home page. Replace your name with each of your three closest rivals. If the sentence is still true for any of them, write that down.
- Answer the five questions alone. Ask three colleagues to do the same, separately. Compare the scores. Disagreement is useful information.
- Ask one client the one-sentence question. Just one. Write down exactly what they say, word for word.
- Draft one disputed claim. Write a single sentence about your approach that a competitor would argue with. Don't publish it yet. Just see if you can write it.
Questions people ask
What is the Orchid Test?
It's a five-question check on whether a brand is clearly made for one buyer and moment, or so general it could belong to anyone. The questions cover naming your buyer, owning a problem, having an evidenced story, making a claim a rival would dispute, and whether your best customer can say why you in one sentence.
Won't a narrow position shrink our market?
A niche narrows who you're the obvious choice for, not who can buy from you. Being the first pick for one clear buyer tends to pull in the buyers around them too, because a clear position is easier to remember and easier to recommend.
What score should we aim for?
Four or five true statements means you have a defensible position. Most brands start at zero or one. The aim isn't a perfect score in a workshop, it's a position that buyers recognise and that your website, sales material and AI answers all describe the same way.