Value Proposition & How to Use the 3 Uniques Tool

Read Time: 5 minutes

How to Use the 3 Uniques Tool

Your value proposition is your competitive differentiator. It’s the proverbial “silver bullet” or “secret sauce”  that lets you stand out from the competition.

The problem is, in today’s highly competitive business environment, it’s hard to truly stand out. In your respective market, how many of your competitors have the same value proposition as you do? Probably most of us. We’re not all going to have a disruptive technology or be the guaranteed lowest price. But the good news is that we don’t have to. 

Here at Sure Oak, we have approximately 14,000 competitors. That’s a lot! It is very hard to stand out from the crowd. However, over the seven years of our existence, we’ve managed to grow every year by continually focusing on what makes us unique. But it wasn’t just one thing. 

To get where we are now, we walked through an exercise outlined by the author Gino Wickman, in his book, “Traction – Get a Grip on Your Business”. He says companies should identify  “3 uniques”. The idea is that any single value props can also be claimed by a competitor, but rarely not all three.

value proposition

Without clear differentiation we tend to chase markets, getting into price wars or investing in areas that are not core to your business. Identifying our three uniques was liberating because it gave us an identity we could all rally around and genuinely communicate to our market. We came up with 1) Results, 2) Experience, and 3) Strategy. We call it the “High RES promise”.  You can read more about that on our website, but here’s the methodology on how we got there:

  1. Make a Long List: We got our senior leaders in a room and we made a list of about 50 potential uniques. I have to admit some were pretty bad, but we listed them all without judgment not only because it spurred creativity, but also because it was fun hearing the off-the-wall ideas
  2. We Looked at our Processes: We added to the list any processes or methodologies that we were particularly proud of and added those to the list. We focused on processes that made the life of our customers better and reduced friction in the selling process.
  3. We Looked at our Offerings: Next, we added specific services we offer. We eschewed features and focused on benefits, particularly emotional benefits that made our customers sleep easier at night
  4. We Looked at our Niches: We asked if there were particular focus areas or markets where we outperformed our rivals. There were two ways to look at niches: (i) verticals or (ii) services. For example, if you are an auto mechanic you could focus on just just Toyotas for a vertical or just brakes for a service.
  5. We Looked at our Villains: We tried to get inside the heads of our customers. What was the big problem they were trying to solve? We labeled that the villain. We came up with all the ways we could overcome this nefarious bad guy.
  6. We Debated and Made a Short List: We had way more than three uniques to pick from and people emotionally attached to certain uniques. We eliminated redundant items (and what we called fluff) and really focused on what was most important not only to our customers but also to our ability to deliver consistently outstanding results.
  7. We Did Some Branding: We branded our 3-Uniques as “High RES”, but there were opportunities to brand a number of the uniques we came up with. For example, we called our Audit and Strategy process the “Game Plan”. Processes are great to brand with clever names that stick in your buyer’s mind.

To help give you some better examples than what we came up with, here are some of the more famous uniques:

Southwest Airlines

Low fares, on-time flights, and having fun.

Amazon Prime

Fast, Free, Convenient

FedEx

Overnight delivery, Reliable service, Global network

IKEA

Affordable, Do-it-yourself, Swedish design

How to Use the 3 Uniques Tool

Here’s how you can pinpoint the unique benefits your company offers with our 3 Uniques Tool.

  1. List your processes or systems that make your service dramatically more efficient for your buyers.
  2. List your offerings, or the products or services you offer customers.
  3. Identify your niches, or your areas of expertise and focus.
  4. Identify the villains, or your solutions to your customer’s biggest blockers.
  5. Make a long list of all the things that make your company great. These should be the most obvious to the most off-the-wall ideas.
  6. Eliminate any uniques that overlap and any “fluff” until you come up with three truly unique offerings.
  7. Give these three uniques a brand name or brand each of these items.
  8. Now you have your 3 Uniques!

We hope this helped you find and identify the value that your company brings to your market. If you have any additional questions, or need more help creating your 3 Uniques, please reach out to [email protected]. Or, you can schedule a free strategy call with our professionals.

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