As a company implementing the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS)®, you will spend time building your Vision Traction Organizer (VTO). The VTO “simplifies strategic planning by distilling your vision into simple points that allow you to clearly define who you are as an organization, where you’re going, and how you’ll get there” (Traction). It is a working document that your team will reference over and over again.
During what is typically a 2-day kickoff session, your Implementer will help you establish several key items on the VTO:
- Core Values
- Core Focus
- 10-Year Target
- Marketing Strategy
- 3-Year Picture
These serve as foundational pieces and will help guide you in setting your more granular goals, like your 1-Year Plan and quarterly rocks.
As part of the VTO’s Marketing Strategy, you will define what makes your company unique; EOS® calls this your 3 Uniques, and that’s the focus of today’s article.
Gino Wickman defines a “company unique” in the EOS® how-to book, Traction:
“Other common marketing terms for this are ‘differentiators’ and ‘value proposition.’ Plainly put, these are what make you different, what make you stand out, and what you’re competing with. If you line yourself up against 10 of your competitors, you might all share one of these uniques. Some of you may even share two, but no one else should have the three you do. You need to settle on three qualities that will truly make your company unique to the ideal customer.”
So, how do you define what differentiates you from your competition?
4 Tips to Help You Identify What Makes You Unique
#1: Complete a SWOT analysis on your company
If you’ve ever completed a Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats assessment, you know how rewarding the exercise can be. The SWOT analysis will reveal how you’re different from your competitors and it’ll also identify areas you are weak in, which should not appear in your list of unique qualities! Completing a SWOT analysis will force you to be honest with yourself and make sure you are identifying the ways in which you are unique, not the ways you wished you were unique.
#2: Interview multiple members of your team
Each member of your team engages with your customer in different ways and will have varying opinions on what you do best. As you seek feedback from employees within different departments and roles, you’ll find a more rounded understanding of where you excel. Prior to interviewing your team, build a list of questions and make sure they aren’t leading. The questions should seek honest feedback. You don’t want them answering based on what the boss wants to hear.
#3: Invite customer feedback
You know yourself and your team well, but sometimes our evaluation can be biased. However, your clients are rarely biased and, if asked, will offer transparent and accurate descriptions of where you excel, and where you don’t. You just need to provide them with the space to express that opinion; if you currently use Customer Satisfaction Surveys (C-SAT), this is a great tool to reference as you seek to define your unique abilities. If you aren’t using C-SATs, I encourage you to begin. There are plenty of free templates on Survey Monkey.
#4: Ask, “When a project goes perfectly, start to finish, what did we do?”
Not every project goes perfectly, but we can all remember the ones that do. Hopefully you’re hitting more doubles and homeruns than you are striking out, so spend some time evaluating the ones that went well. In your evaluation, ask the team why it went so smoothly. What processes worked well? What was your communication with the client and the team like? Which of our services did the client utilize?
What Makes M&R Unique?
As a team, we have identified 3 ways that M&R is unique to our competition:
- M&R is Full Service & Fully Engaged: as your innovative partner, we offer comprehensive solutions in an ever-changing industry.
- M&R is Exceptionally Creative: we have the capacity, experience, and drive to think outside of the box.
- M&R is Results Driven: after obtaining a deep brand-knowledge, we focus on strategic solutions and best-practices that achieve your goals.
We share these uniques often.
How do We Share Our Uniques
Now that you’ve identified what makes your company unique, it’s time to share it. But one word of caution – don’t just talk about. Be about it. One effective way to be about it is to share it as often as possible and with everyone who interacts with you – from clients to leads to vendors, and especially with your own team.
This creates accountability and clearly defines what you expect to be measured on – it’s an invitation to your clients to hold you accountable and it’s a reminder to your team that these are the expectations for your company’s work.
Here are a few ways we share our 3 uniques:
- With our team at our Quarterly State of the Company
- On our website, here
- On the proposals we present to every lead and client
- In our marketing material, from print material to mailers to digital platforms
We are proud of what makes us unique and are happy to share it frequently, both internally and externally!
How Can We Help?
If you’re preparing to implement the Entrepreneurial Operating System for your business and want some assistance in creating a clear, measurable marketing strategy, we would love to help. M&R Marketing partners with hundreds of growing companies across the United States, many of whom also run on EOS®. Contact us via phone at 478-621-4491 or email to start a conversation.