Most debates are on semantics, not the ideas. Ask the team what’s more important: a) getting the perfect words, or b) getting alignment on the right words Also, if your field team isn’t deeply engaged in the process, you’re likely wasting time.

To build consensus (and land on the optimal product messaging) nothing beats primary research among your target audience. Nothing.

A perspective that has yielded success has been the leaders’ understanding/knowing/sharing customers’ real experiences/not guessing…which if ground in sound research yields a common anchor for discussion. With that, healthy discussion points/communication ideas can be held up to the customer framing for proofing. Example that comes to mind are cell phone family plans. It seems simple knowledge, but it took some time and depth of family purchases before the family plan became a ‘duh moment’. Most folks can ‘handle the truth’ when presented factually and they are allowed to comment/contribute. So, in the end, good homework and courtesy drives good results that reasonable folks would support when presented for open comment.

I start with clearly articulating the current ACB (Accepted Customer Belief) and the DCB (Desired Customer Belief). This is plain English and comes from deep consumer understanding, which has also dictated the product/feature being built. Usually clearly articulating this helps narrow down. If it doesn't best way is to test the candidate copies with customers (or relevant TG) and see which one is landing the DCB better.