I would write Step 5 this way, using the actual Blue Ocean Strategy TOC and keeping the EVUNN structure consistent with the previous steps. I would also use the Four Actions Framework as the central execution mechanism, rather than turning the page into a generic lesson on Blue Ocean Strategy.

Step 5 — Define Your Differentiation

The Problem We’re Solving

“I know how I want my offer to be positioned, but I don’t know what would make the right customer choose it over the alternatives.”

You now have:

• A Best-Fit Customer Profile

• A defined Buying Situation

• A Customer Alternative & Decision Landscape

• A Positioning Blueprint

But your customer can still ask:

“Why should I choose this offer instead of the other options available to me?”

That is the question differentiation must answer.

Differentiation is not about proving that you are better at everything.

It is not:

“I have more experience.”

“I provide excellent service.”

“I have a unique framework.”

“I care more about my clients.”

Those statements may be true.

But the important question is:

“What is meaningfully different about this offer that this particular customer actually values?”

Your objective is to identify the differences that can make your offer meaningfully preferable to the alternatives.

The EVUNN Mindset Shift

From “How am I different?” → “What difference matters to the customer?”

Experts naturally look at differentiation from their own perspective.

They ask:

“What makes me special?”

But the customer is asking:

“Why should I care?”

Your credentials, experience and expertise may be impressive.

But they only become commercially useful when they create something the customer values.

So don’t ask:

“How can I make myself look different?”

Ask:

“What can I change, improve or create that makes this offer more valuable to my best-fit customer?”

This is the difference between being different and being meaningfully different.

📖 Recommended Book

Blue Ocean Strategy

Authors: W. Chan Kim & Renée Mauborgne

The Big Idea

Instead of competing only on the factors everyone in the market already competes on, you can rethink the value you provide by eliminating, reducing, raising or creating factors that change the customer’s experience.

This is particularly useful for expert-based businesses because many coaches, consultants, freelancers and professional service providers compete on the same things:

• Experience

• Expertise

• Credentials

• Personal attention

• Quality

• Price

• Number of services

• Years in business

The result is often a crowded market where everyone says:

“I’m better.”

Blue Ocean Strategy gives you another question:

“What could we change about the value we provide so the customer has a more compelling reason to choose us?”

What Business Problem Does This Book Solve?

“My market is crowded, and I don’t know how to create meaningful differentiation without simply claiming that I’m better.”

The book helps you examine the factors on which customers currently compare competing offers.

Then you can ask four powerful questions:

Eliminate

What can we remove because customers don’t really need it?

Reduce

What can we provide at a lower level because the market is over-serving customers?

Raise

What should we increase because customers genuinely value it?

Create

What could we introduce that customers would value but existing alternatives don’t provide?

For EVUNN, these questions become a practical way to discover customer-relevant differentiation.

Should I Read It Now?

YES — but selectively.

You do not need to read the entire book before completing this step.

Your objective is:

Use the book to identify meaningful ways your offer could create and communicate distinctive customer value.

You are not trying to create an entirely new industry.

You are trying to find a stronger value position within the market you have chosen.

Which Parts Matter Most?

Part One — Blue Ocean Strategy

Chapter 1 — Creating Blue Oceans

READ

Focus on the central idea of creating a different value proposition rather than competing only within existing market rules.

The important question for EVUNN is:

“Are we simply competing on the same factors as everyone else?”

Chapter 2 — Analytical Tools and Frameworks

READ — MOST IMPORTANT

This is the most useful chapter for the EVUNN exercise.

Pay particular attention to:

Strategy Canvas

Use this to understand the factors customers currently compare across competing alternatives.

Four Actions Framework

This gives you the core questions:

Eliminate

Reduce

Raise

Create

These will become the foundation of your EVUNN Differentiation & Value Innovation Map.

Chapter 3 — Reconstruct Market Boundaries

SKIM

This is useful for learning how businesses can look beyond obvious competitors and rethink the boundaries of a market.

You don’t need to master the entire framework at this stage.

Chapter 4 — Focus on the Big Picture, Not the Numbers

SKIP FOR NOW

Useful for broader strategic planning, but not necessary for deciding how your expert-based offer should differentiate itself.

Chapter 5 — Reach Beyond Existing Demand

SKIM

Useful for thinking about customers outside your current target market.

But your immediate objective is to strengthen the offer for your Best-Fit Customer.

Chapter 6 — Get the Strategic Sequence Right

SKIM

Useful background for thinking about whether your proposed changes make sense strategically.

Not essential to the immediate execution exercise.

Part Three — Executing Blue Ocean Strategy

SKIP FOR NOW

Chapters 7–10 deal primarily with organizational execution, alignment and renewal.

Those issues become more relevant as a business grows.

You don’t need them to complete your initial differentiation strategy.

What Should I Ignore For Now?

Don’t turn this into a competition to invent something nobody else has.

You don’t need:

• A bizarre business model

• A complicated proprietary framework

• A new industry category

• A strange pricing model

• A long list of artificial differentiators

Differentiation does not mean being different for the sake of being different.

Your difference must matter to the customer.

Your EVUNN Action

Build Your Differentiation & Value Innovation Map

Bring forward:

Step 3

Customer Alternative & Decision Landscape

and:

Step 4

Positioning Blueprint

You are now going to identify where your offer can create meaningful customer value that the alternatives do not provide in the same way.

1. Identify What Customers Currently Compare

Start with the alternatives your customer considers.

List the factors they appear to use when deciding between those alternatives.

For example:

• Price

• Speed

• Expertise

• Personalisation

• Convenience

• Support

• Implementation

• Access

• Flexibility

• Depth

• Results

• Risk

• Reputation

Use the evidence from your earlier research where possible.

Don’t simply guess what customers care about.

2. Map The Current Market

Look at the alternatives side by side.

Ask:

“What does the market currently over-emphasise?”

For example, perhaps most competitors compete heavily on:

• More content

• More features

• More hours

• More certifications

• Lower price

• More services

This creates an important question:

“Are customers actually getting more value from all of this?”

3. ELIMINATE

Ask:

“What could we eliminate without reducing the customer’s desired outcome?”

For an expert-based business, this might include:

• Unnecessary complexity

• Excessive content

• Unused features

• Unnecessary meetings

• Generic material

• Long processes

• Steps customers don’t actually need

Eliminating something can make your offer:

Simpler.

Faster.

Clearer.

Easier to buy.

Easier to deliver.

4. REDUCE

Ask:

“What could we reduce because the market is providing more of it than the customer actually needs?”

For example:

Instead of:

20 hours of generic training

you might provide:

5 hours of targeted learning plus implementation support.

The goal isn’t to reduce value.

It is to remove unnecessary delivery.

5. RAISE

Ask:

“What does our best-fit customer care deeply about that existing alternatives don’t adequately provide?”

This could be:

• Personalisation

• Speed to outcome

• Implementation

• Specialisation

• Accessibility

• Accountability

• Convenience

• Clarity

• Support

• Risk reduction

This is where you may discover an opportunity to compete on something that matters more to your customer than the factors the market currently emphasises.

6. CREATE

Now ask:

“What could we create that would provide meaningful value but isn’t adequately offered by the alternatives?”

It doesn’t need to be revolutionary.

For example:

Instead of simply providing:

Leadership training

you might create:

A 90-day leadership transition system that combines targeted learning, practical implementation and structured decision support for newly promoted managers.

The additional structure changes the customer’s experience.

7. Identify Potential Differentiators

You should now have several possible differences.

But do not use all of them.

For each potential differentiator ask:

Does the customer care?

Would this affect their decision?

Does it create value?

Does it improve their desired outcome or experience?

Is it distinctive?

Is it meaningfully different from the alternatives?

Is it credible?

Can you actually deliver it?

Is it sustainable?

Can you continue delivering it as the business grows?

8. Connect The Difference to Customer Value

For each serious differentiator, complete:

Because we [difference], the customer can [benefit], which matters because [desired outcome].

For example:

Because we provide implementation support rather than information alone, customers can apply the system to their real business, which matters because they need measurable progress rather than more knowledge.

This prevents you from confusing features with differentiation.

9. Choose Your Core Differentiators

You do not need ten reasons for customers to choose you.

Choose the one to three differences that matter most.

Ask:

“If my customer remembered only one reason to choose this offer, what should it be?”

Then ask:

“Does this strengthen the position I chose in Step 4?”

Your differentiation should reinforce your positioning.

It should not create a completely different story.

10. Create Your Differentiation Statement

Now turn your strongest difference into a simple statement:

“Unlike [alternative], we [meaningful difference], so [best-fit customer] can [valuable outcome].”

For example:

“Unlike generic leadership courses, this programme is designed specifically for newly promoted managers and focuses on applying the skills during their first 90 days.”

The customer should immediately understand:

What is different?

Why does it matter?

Why should I care?

11. Stress-Test Your Differentiation

Before you finalise it, ask:

Relevant

Does the customer actually care?

Meaningful

Could it influence their buying decision?

Distinctive

Does it separate you from the alternatives?

Credible

Can you prove or demonstrate it?

Aligned

Does it reinforce your chosen position?

Sustainable

Can you continue delivering it?

If the answer is no, refine it.

🧠 EVUNN Mindset Checkpoint

Are you trying too hard to be different?

When experts hear the word differentiation, they sometimes feel they must invent something nobody else has.

You may start thinking:

“I need a proprietary framework.”

“I need a completely new methodology.”

“I need something nobody else does.”

You don’t.

Your goal is not to be unique.

Your goal is to be meaningfully preferable to the right customer.

Sometimes your strongest differentiation is simply:

• A narrower customer

• A better process

• A faster path

• Greater personalisation

• Better implementation

• A more convenient experience

• Lower risk

• A more relevant specialisation

Ask:

“What can I do differently that this customer genuinely values?”

Optional reading: The War of Art — Steven Pressfield

Use this only if you find yourself stuck because you believe you need a completely original idea before you can move forward.

This is a mindset checkpoint, not a required reading assignment.

🔓 EVUNN Execution Toolkit

Differentiation & Value Innovation Map

Don’t compete by simply claiming that you’re better.

Use the EVUNN Differentiation & Value Innovation Map to examine what customers currently compare, identify what to eliminate, reduce, raise and create, connect those changes to customer value and select the few differences that should make your offer meaningfully preferable.

→ Unlock The Toolkit

One Payment. All Stage 1 Toolkits. Yours For Life.

No monthly subscription. No recurring fees. Just the tools you need to execute.

→ Unlock All Stage 1 Execution Toolkits

Your Step 5 Output

By the end of this step, you should have a:

DIFFERENTIATION STRATEGY

Containing:

Competitive Alternatives
↓
Customer Decision Factors
↓
Current Market Value Factors
↓
Eliminate
↓
Reduce
↓
Raise
↓
Create
↓
Potential Differentiators
↓
Customer Value Created
↓

Core Differentiators

↓

Differentiation Statement

What You Should Now Know

You entered Step 5 knowing:

“I have chosen the position I want my offer to own.”

You leave knowing:

“Here is why my best-fit customer should prefer my offer over the alternatives.”

You now have:

A Best-Fit Customer

↓

A Buying Situation

↓

An Alternative Landscape

↓

A Market Position

↓

A Meaningful Differentiation Strategy

But your differentiation is still a strategic decision.

The next challenge is communication.

Your customer may not automatically understand your positioning or differentiation simply because you’ve defined them internally.

So the next question becomes:

“How do I communicate this clearly enough that the right customer immediately understands why this offer matters to them?”

NEXT: STEP 6 — BUILD THE CORE MESSAGE

How do I explain my offer so the right customer understands its value and wants to know more?