The three uniques brand differentiation framework from EOS® asks businesses to name three things that set them apart from competitors. The problem is that most companies pick the same three things everyone else picks. This post explains what actually works instead.
The Three Uniques That Actually Move Your Market
You've been asked this question before.
"What makes your company different?"
And if you're like most business owners, your answer sounds something like this: "We have the best people. Our prices are competitive. We've been in business for 20 years."
Congratulations. So have your competitors.
If your differentiation sounds exactly like everyone else's, then you have no differentiation at all. Not in the mind of your prospect. And their perception is the only thing that matters.
What Are the Three Uniques, and Why Do They Fall Short?
The concept of the "3 Uniques" comes from Gino Wickman's book Traction, the foundation of the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS). The idea is straightforward: identify three things about your company that, together, explain why a prospect should do business with you rather than the competition.
Wickman uses Southwest Airlines as the classic example. Their three uniques are low fares, lots of flights, and loads of fun. Could another airline claim one of those? Maybe. But none of them can claim all three. That combination, and their ability to deliver, is what makes Southwest distinct.
Many leadership teams go through the exercise and come up with exactly what you'd expect: price, people, and experience. The same answers, over and over. If every company in your market says the same three things, the exercise has no effect on your prospect's decision. They still can't tell you apart.
That is not the three uniques brand differentiation strategy working the way it is supposed to.
The Honest Problem
Most business leaders approach the three uniques exercise looking for validation of what they already believe about themselves. "We really do have great people." "Our prices really are fair." So they write those things down, check the box, and move on.
But those are not differentiators. They're table stakes. They're what you need just to be in the game, not what sets you apart from the field.
The exercise asks what makes you unique. The honest answer most companies should give is: "Nothing, yet."
Not because they don't do great work. They usually do. The problem is that their great work is invisible. Their outside perception does not match their inside reality. Prospects cannot see what makes them remarkable because the company has never taken the time to name it, and tell the story clearly.
Going Beyond the Three Uniques: What Are Remarkables?
EOS is a wonderful system and the three uniques concept says your combination of three traits is what separates you. That is a solid starting point. But you can go further.
Instead of three things that together make you unique, what if each individual thing you did was remarkable on its own?
Not "we have great customer service." That is not remarkable. Everyone says it.
Remarkable looks different. Remarkable is something your customer could describe to a friend in one sentence and make that friend think, "Wow. I have never heard of a company doing that."
A Remarkable is a specific solution to a specific problem your ideal customer has, delivered in a way that nobody else delivers it. It has a name. It has a process. It tells a story your customer can repeat.
The three uniques brand differentiation strategy gets you started. Remarkables are how you finish the job.
What a Real Remarkable Looks Like
Kate ran a commercial construction company in Los Angeles. When asked what made her different, she gave the standard list. "We've been in business for 15 years. We're licensed and insured. We can handle any type of commercial construction."
So could every competitor on her list.
When we dug deeper, something real surfaced. Kate hated the punch list. You know the drill. The project wraps up, the client moves in, and then the problems show up. An outlet without power. A door that won't latch. A toilet that runs all night. The construction firm has already moved on to the next job. Getting them back to fix anything becomes a battle.
Kate was already solving this problem. She would send someone to the job site 30 days before the project ended to start identifying and fixing every small issue before move-in day. When she handed over the keys, there was no punch list.
I asked what she called this.
"I don't call it anything. It's just something we do."
That right there is where most companies leave money on the table. They are doing something remarkable and never bothering to name it.
We called it the Zero Punch List Countdown. Thirty days out, a dedicated Punch List Manager shows up wearing a white lab coat with "Punch List Manager" embroidered on the front. They walk through the entire space with the client. Then they send an update email every five days, tracking what was fixed, what remains, and what new items surfaced. The countdown ends on move-in day with zero items remaining.
Her close rate on new projects shot up. Office managers started telling other office managers about "the construction company that sends a guy in a lab coat to make sure everything is perfect." Referrals grew fast.
The cost? One lab coat.
That is a Remarkable.
The Test Every Differentiator Has to Pass
Before you decide something is a Remarkable, run it through two questions.
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Question 1: Is it unique to your company, not just better than the competition? "We respond faster" is better. It is not unique. "We have a Punch List Manager in a lab coat doing a 30-day countdown to zero items" is unique. There is a meaningful difference between being a degree better and being a kind apart. |
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Question 2: Would your customer tell a friend about it? Would an office manager tell another office manager? Would a homeowner describe it at a dinner party? If the answer is yes, you have something worth building around. If the answer is no, keep digging. |
How Do You Find Your Own Remarkables?
Start with your best clients. The ones who love working with you. The ones who refer other people without being asked.
Ask them these questions:
- What problem did you have before you hired us?
- What do we do that you have not seen anywhere else?
- What would you miss most if you had to switch to a competitor?
- What do you tell people when you recommend us?
Their answers will surprise you. They will describe things you have been doing for years that you never thought were special. That is your starting point.
From there, the process looks like this:
- Identify your ideal client (your persona)
- List the core problems that person loses sleep over
- Look at how you currently solve those problems
- Find the parts of your solution that are unusual, unexpected, or frankly impressive.
- Name them. Give them a specific title.
- Build a story around them that your customer can repeat.
This is the core of the ALCHEMYZE process. It takes your inside reality and makes it visible to the outside world.
Does the Three Uniques Framework Still Matter?
Of course. It is a useful exercise. The discipline of forcing yourself to name three specific reasons a prospect should work with you is worth doing. It focuses your message and gives your team something to say.
The ALCHEMYZE process asks you to test your assumptions and go further. Your goal is not to have three answers that satisfy an exercise. Your goal is to become the obvious choice in your market. That takes more than three bullet points. It takes Remarkables. It takes names, stories, and processes your prospects can feel and remember and talk about.
What Most Companies Get Wrong About Differentiation
They start with what they want to say about themselves instead of what their best customer needs to hear.
Your headline is not about you. Your Remarkables are not about you. They are about the specific person you are trying to reach, the problem that they struggle with, and the solution that makes them feel like you built your entire company around helping people just like them.
When you get that right, you stop competing on price. You stop losing deals to competitors with flashier websites. You start winning because you are the only one who truly understands your customer's world.
For a deeper look at the EOS approach to business operating systems, the EOS Worldwide website is a solid place to start. If you want to go deeper on differentiation specifically, Wickman's Traction covers the three uniques concept in full context.
The three uniques brand differentiation framework is a great place to start. It asks the right question. But most companies give the wrong answers because they are not digging deep enough.
The businesses that win in their markets do not just list three talking points. They build Remarkables. They name what they already do well, tell the story in a way their customer can repeat, and make their inside reality visible to the outside world.
You are almost certainly already doing something remarkable.
The question is whether you have named it yet.
Every business has Remarkables. Few know how to communicate them. If you're ready to uncover yours and turn them into messaging that makes your business the obvious choice.
Explore the ALCHEMYZE process.
