B. The Problem Your Product/Service Solves
Your product or service will only benefit your customer if it solves a problem for them.
ASK YOURSELF:
What is the problem my product or service solves?
Competition & Alternative Solutions
If your customer truly has a problem, their needs are most likely being addressed in some other way. Anything currently attempting to solve your customer’s problem is your competition.
Traditionally people think of competitors offering similar things. For example, Coca-Cola and Pepsi are obvious competitors. Businesses that offer similar products or services are direct competitors.
However, competitors may look nothing like you. For example, when Henry Ford built the first automobile, no one had ever seen anything like it. Yet, he was solving the problem of transportation. People needed to get from here to there with as little effort as possible. His indirect competitors were the ways people of his day solved the problem before the automobile: horses, buggies, bicycles, and trains.
So, even if your concept is completely revolutionary, you probably still have a competitor. You will always have competitors for limited resources, i.e. your prospects money.
ASK YOURSELF:
- How will my product or service solve my customer’s problem?
- Are current solutions too expensive or too difficult?
- Are current solutions doing the job as well as possible?
- Is my customer dissatisfied with the current solution enough to risk trying something new?
ASK YOURSELF:
- Why is my solution better than what is out there?
- What gives me the edge over my competitors?