Competitive Separation is what makes you or your offer unique, unmatchable. The more unmatchable your offer is, the great the level of competitive separation. Step 1. Determine your current level of Competitive Separation. Step 2. Determine your Aspirational level of Competitive Separation and Step 3. Create a plan to get there.

1. What makes you different?

What makes you different? What are your “Crown Jewels”? Why should your customers care about this difference? How can you leverage this difference to capture new customers and enter new markets? And finally, are you going to develop or acquire your “Crown Jewels”?

“Crown Jewels” are your unique assets that are proprietary to you, hard for competitors to replicate and highly valued by customers. They can be technology patents, size of installed base, disruptive business model, domain expertise, skills and capabilities that are unique to your company. That if developed and positioned properly create sustainable advantages that enable real and measurable competitive separation. We all have them. Sometimes we don’t know what they look like or where they are hiding in our organisation.

2. Who is in your Competitive Set?

Most of us live within the confines of our competitive set. A competitive set consists of you and every other company/capability/offer/product or service that customers perceive as comparable or equivalent. ie. Your customers view you as potential substitutes. Do you have a well-worn list of usual suspects that you compete with? Who is in your Competitive Set today? Should they be? Who will be in your competitive set in 3 years from now? Who would you like to include in your competitive set?

3. Who is your Reference Competitor?

The choice of your Reference Competitor is critical as it determines your position and reveals your competitive aspirations.

Example: Using an aspirational Reference Competitor to create competitive separation.
Are you familiar with Slideshare?” I ask people. “I post my presentations there so program participants can view them and download them, as well as anyone else out there who may be interested.” When I explain what Slideshare is to some people I see their eyes start to glaze over. They just don’t get it. So I ask if they have heard of YouTube? “Yes, of course. Everyone knows YouTube” they answer. “Slideshare is YouTube for Powerpoint.” “OK, now I get it! Now I know what you are talking about. (thank you)” Here competitive separation was achieved without reference to Slideshare’s direct competitors (Brainshark, Sliderocket, Authorstream and others) who are part of Slideshare’s competitive set today.

What is your Competitive Separation strategy?

Start by answering these questions:

• Who is in your competitive set?
• Who is your reference competitor (today)?
• Who is your aspirational reference competitor (tomorrow)?
• What are your “Crown Jewels”?
• What are the key buying criteria of the customers that you serve?
• How will you provide unmatchable value for each of those buying criteria?

Make it happen: lead first, manage second.

*based on ideas from the book: Escape Velocity, by Geoffrey A. Moore, HaperCollins 2011

Understanding your own value – the value of your products and services – and being able to connect that value to your customer’s business drivers is what makes customers want to buy. Customers want the benefits, the business benefits that your product or service can create and deliver to their business.

In today’s business climate customers are critically reviewing and reassessing their businesses, rethinking their options, re-allocating resources and re-prioritizing their business strategies. You can assist your customers in this process by helping them to identify and quantify value gaps or value opportunities, demonstrating how value can be created, implemented and then measured to ensure that the value realised meets or exceeds plan.

Value maximisation followed by value assurance is what your customers desperately want and need today. Show him or her how they can achieve these two goals and you will create more than a customer, you will create a business partner for life.

Price Advantage -> Product Advantage -> Competitive Advantage -> Value Advantage!!!

To learn how to create your own Value Advantage read “The Prime Solution” by Jeff Thull. You will learn how to close the value gap, increase margins and win the complex sale. Go to http://www.primeresource.com/ to download a free copy of the foreword, introduction and chapter 1.