ICP sharpening
Push strength reveals which segments have the strongest reason to switch now.
Resource · Forces & Desires
The six forces inside a buyer's switch tell you exactly what to build, fix, and say.
Most switching research stops at the finding. Forces get named, nobody assigns them to a decision, and the positioning is unchanged three weeks later.
This grid is the translation layer between them.
The six forces
The struggling moment is not a seventh force. It's the container: the circumstance in which these six become active and the balance between them turns unstable. Forces explain why a buyer moves. The struggling moment explains when.
Pushes
The struggle with the current way that makes staying costly.
Pulls
What makes the new way feel possible and specifically attractive.
Desires
The progress the buyer is trying to make — who they're trying to become.
Avoidances
The downside they're steering around, often protected by staying put.
Habits / Allegiances
The routine that keeps the current way in place whether or not it's chosen, and the loyalties to a vendor, a person or a way of working that hold it there.
Anxieties
The fear about the new way — what could go wrong if they move.
GTM Strategy
Push strength reveals which segments have the strongest reason to switch now.
The triggering event tells you when the force balance becomes unstable — and therefore when a buyer becomes reachable.
Status quo gravity tells you what has to break before they'll listen.
Positioning
The real alternative isn't a rival product; it's a habit that also protects them from a downside.
Lead with the struggle and the aspiration, not features, to build the emotional case.
Avoidances define what your category promise must neutralize to win.
Messaging
Open on the struggle to earn receptivity, then weaken the habit, then amplify the destination.
Desires define the outcome language; Pulls define what they need to believe about you specifically.
Anxiety and Avoidance map directly to the objections your sales team hears.
Sales & Pricing
The pilot has to prove the capability is real and the failure mode is survivable — not just that the product works.
Price against the downside they're steering around and the progress they're buying, not the feature list.
Your champion carries internal career risk; arm them for the room you're not in.
Product & Onboarding
Habits are routines, not choices. The first session has to replace the ritual and win on defaults, not match features.
Activation has to prove the capability is real and the progress is underway; if first value lands late, the old habit reasserts.
Early churn often begins when post-purchase anxiety confirms the downside they feared before switching.
Which force governs which function
Front of the journey
Mid to late
Widest count
Frame and risk
Widest spread
Back half
Counts exceed fifteen because most decisions are governed by two forces at once.
The dominant force changes by function. Push concentrates at the front of the journey and disappears after Messaging. Habits and allegiances are the widest, touching four functions and absent only from Sales. Anxieties is nearly absent from GTM and governs three of six Sales and Product decisions. That's why one research readout lands differently with four different teams — and why a shared translation layer is worth more than a shared deck.
Sizing the force
Different switching situations carry different force profiles. The grid tells you which force governs a decision. How strong that force is for the situation you're selling into is a question only your own research answers.
Six interview guides, one per decision. Each has a free set of core questions, which is enough to run a real interview rather than a demonstration of one.
The six forces don't just explain why buyers switch. They tell you where to intervene across the entire switching journey.