I know a lot of business struggle with the “Three Uniques.” I have seen a lot of “uniques” that aren’t unique, or at least aren’t unique to their prospects (they might be the only family-owned HVAC company in town, but do customers really care about that?).

I use a framework I developed called “The 3 Whys” to facilitate finding these three uniques.

The 3 Whys:

1. Need – why do customers need this product or service?
2. Differentiation – why should customers choose your product over your competitors?
3. Trust – why should customers trust you?

Need

This need establishes why potential customers choose your product over substitute products that do the same job. For example, Ford makes cars, but the “job” of a car is transportation, which could be performed by Uber, bumming rides, or even walking. Why do people need cars to provide transportation?

This video is a good introduction to this notion of “jobs:” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbVN6EYql6k

The steps for determining need are:

1. Determine the “job” products like yours solve
2. Determine substitute products that can meet that job
3. Determine the reasons your product meets the job

Differentiation

What makes your product or service different from your competitors? The Strategy Curve is a great way to determine differentiation.

The steps for determining differentiation are:

1. List your top 3 competitors
2. List the factors customers use to choose your products or competitors’ products. A good way to think about this is, “why do you lose customers?”
3. Rank each factor on a scale of 1 – 5

A good resource is this article: https://www.blueoceanstrategy.com/tools/strategy-canvas/

Trust

Social proof like testimonials or certifications can help, but the Holy Grail is a guaranteed brand promise (think Domino’s 30 minutes or free guarantee).

Although he didn’t invent the concept, Verne Harnish explains this well in Scaling Up.