The Expert's Panel

First is to know the position your product holds in eyes of the your customers now. Realistic identification of where both you and your competitors are is essential or you can't move forward with a positioning strategy. Second is to identify "why" this scenario exists. This allows you a better understanding of both your and the competitors strengths and weaknesses in the eyes of the market. Third is to assess "why" there is any difference between reality and the perceptions of the market. There are things the customer may not understand about your product, customer, service, etc. Last, of course is to set about correcting the unrealistic gaps.

The only thing I would add to that, is to figure out what the position ought to be. Where are you and where do you want to be. Then how do you get the customer base to believe it. How do you effectively communicate your differentiation to people?