Value Proposition · Differentiation · Component
The deliberate weaknesses
What the offer is consciously not good at, chosen so that it can be excellent elsewhere.
The deliverable
What it is
A position that involves no trade-off is not a position. Trying to be strong on every axis produces an offer that is adequate on all of them and preferred on none.
Recording weaknesses as choices is what stops them being fixed by accident — an organisation that keeps closing its own trade-offs converges on its competitors.
One level in
What it is made of
Each element is a constituent part of the component. Follow one to see the attributes it carries.
The trade-off
What is given up, and what strength it buys.
3 attributes: Given up · Bought with it · Reason
LearnThe drift check
Whether the organisation is quietly closing its own trade-offs.
3 attributes: Checked · Still held · Pressure source
Learn
Every accepted weakness attracts a reasonable-looking fix. The sum of those fixes is a lost position — check periodically.
The other components in differentiation
The alternative set
What the customer would do instead — including doing nothing, which is the most common competitor and the least often listed.
LearnThe difference statement
What is true of your offer and not of the alternatives, stated so plainly that a rival could not use the same sentence.
Learn