by Rick Baker
On Dec 31, 2009
This is blog #4 in an 8-blog series about Powerful Answers to 7 important business questions. The series is intended to be an introduction to strategic intuition and planning.
Preamble: Question 3 is about Differential Advantage, also known as Unique Selling Proposition, and about Value Proposition. During the last 30 years numerous experts have advised us of the need for uniqueness and holding a differential advantage over our competitors. Tom Peters, for example, went into detail in his book Thriving on Chaos [1987]. Jay Abraham and many others provide guidance and ideas. However, for most business people at most businesses this is a real challenge.
Differential Advantage: the potential Buyer asks - Why should I buy from these people instead of buying from their competitor…or doing nothing?
Value Proposition: the potential Buyer asks - What value do I get when I buy this thing?
At the surface it seems it should be easy to answer these questions, However, that is not what we have seen when we talk to hundreds of business people. When it comes to understanding and describing Differential Advantage and Value Proposition, it is appears the grass may be greener on the other side of the street. Often, it is easier to answer the question for another company than it is for our own company.
Question 3: What do you do BETTER and DIFFERENT than anyone else?
Powerful Answer: an excerpt from the SWOGG Canada Inc website
www.swogg.com
We guarantee your order will be delivered RIGHT! ON TIME! OR FREE!
Postamble: When we decided to invest in SWOGG we understood the decorated-apparel industry was fraught with over-promising and under-delivering. Examples: (1) corporate golf tournaments would happen before the shirts with logos arrived and (2) children would be wearing white T-shirts for the opening game of their soccer season…all because decorated apparel did not arrive on time. So, in reaction, we created the above statement of difference…a differential advantage.
The next blog will consider Question 4:
Who REALLY CARES about what you do best?