Business Core · Value Proposition · Module
Differentiation
Why this offer rather than the alternatives, including doing nothing. A proposition that would read identically over a competitor’s logo has not differentiated anything.
The idea
How it works
Differentiation is a comparative claim, so it needs a named comparison set. That set includes the customer doing nothing, which is usually the largest competitor and the one least often listed.
The stronger form of the test is not what you are better at but what you are deliberately worse at. An offer that claims superiority on every dimension is describing an aspiration.
Working with it
In practice
- 01
Name the real alternatives
What the customer would do instead — including a spreadsheet, a person, or nothing at all.
- 02
Run the substitution test
Put a competitor’s name into your proposition. If it still reads as true, it describes a category rather than a company.
- 03
State what you are worse at
A deliberate weakness is evidence of a real choice. An offer with none has not made one.
- 04
Check the difference is one they care about
Being distinctive on something nobody values is a cost with no return.
One level in
The components of differentiation
A component is something that exists afterwards which did not exist before — a deliverable or a mechanism, not an intention.
The difference statement
What this offer does that the alternatives do not, in terms the customer values.
Learn
The substitution test takes thirty seconds and fails more propositions than any other check in the framework.
The other modules in value proposition
Customer jobs and pains
What the customer is actually trying to get done, and what makes it hard. This comes first, because a proposition written before it is a guess with a confident tone.
LearnThe offer
The products and services, and specifically how each one relieves a pain or creates a gain. The connection is the content; the list alone is a catalogue.
LearnProof
What makes the claim believable to someone who has not bought yet. Evidence does the work adjectives are usually asked to do.
Learn