What Makes You Unique?

In continuing to share the story of B2B customers being more empowered than ever and driving suppliers into the land of commoditization, senior executives have attached to the value of leading with insight to “unteach” the customer—to disrupt them. What has been consistent, and almost as astonishing as I’ve had these conversations with commercial leaders is the resounding belief that they do not have a good or strong answer to the first critical part of commercial insight—lead to your unique strengths. Sometimes there are even blank stares to the question—what is it that you do better AND different than your competitors? Time and time again, commercial leaders say, “We don’t really know.  We think we know.” Then there are some organizations that feel they have it nailed, but too often the responses are “We are customer-centric. We’ve got great people. We’re green! We’re innovative!” And while that all may be true, if everyone is saying it (and doing it), it isn’t unique.

So, if this is an area that so many commercial organizations struggle to identify and define, how can we uncover unique strengths that differentiate? First, let’s share a nice, clear definition:

Unique – this capability outperforms competitors offerings
Valuable – it has economic impact and value to the customer
Proven – evidence of how and why this capability outperforms the competition exists

It can be helpful to define what a differentiator is NOT:

Features and benefits common to your market
Outcomes your product generates
Vague or over used descriptions

Where can you begin to find your unique strengths? Well, we’ve seen companies find them in all kinds of places (because, good news, they already exist! We just have to go hunting for them):

The enterprise or corporate level
At the business unit level
At a segment or vertical level
At a product, solution or service level

Lastly, here are some key questions to ask as you start to hunt for your differentiators:

What do you believe are your strongest unique strengths/capabilities?
What would your customers say are your unique strengths/capabilities?
How do your best customers use your products/solutions/services differently than others?
Are we truly the strongest at this capability?

Talk to all types of people in your organization. Talk to your best customers. Talk to product development, and talk to your best sellers. Your unique strengths truly already exist. Happy hunting!

CEB Sales Members, learn more about Commercial Teaching and identifying your underappreciated, unique strengths. Also, register for an upcoming workshop on Challenger Messaging.