How to find your unique attributes
Unique attributes are the capabilities the real alternatives lack. Find them in won and lost deals, not on the feature page. April Dunford’s sequence asks what you have that those alternatives do not, then what that lets a customer do. If an alternative can make the same claim, cross it out. Shared features do not decide the purchase.
Differentiated means compared with an alternative
Dunford’s quickstart is a short chain. Start with what the customer would do if you did not exist. List what you have that those alternatives do not. Then ask what that capability lets the customer do. Her question is “so what for customers.” A product feature can be an attribute. So can another capability, when the alternative lacks it. Pride in a feature does not make it an attribute. The comparison does.
Steps
Pull recent deals
Won and lost. Write what they used before and what they chose instead.
List capabilities against each
Features, data, process or delivery. Keep what that alternative lacks.
Cross out the overlap
If they can claim it, it is not why someone picks you.
Ask so what
Continue until you reach a result a buyer would pay for. If it is still a feature, keep going.
Check the customer’s words
What they say they would miss. Use past deals, not a vote on your feature list.
Illustrative cut
| Claim | Versus a spreadsheet | Keep or cut |
|---|---|---|
| Sends an invoice | The spreadsheet does not send it | Keep, then ask so what |
| Stores client names | The spreadsheet stores them too | Cut |
| Drafts the bill from the client email | The spreadsheet cannot | Keep |
| AI-powered | A buyer cannot tell what changes | Cut, until the result is plain |
The rows are a fictional billing product, the same kind of worked example used elsewhere on this site. They are not a client. Your list comes from your deals.
FAQs
Can a way of delivering be a unique attribute?
Yes, when the alternative does not have it and the customer would pay for the result. Dunford’s component is capabilities, not a feature list alone.
How many unique attributes should we keep?
As many as survive the comparison. A long list of shared features is not a stronger position.
What if nothing survives the cut?
Then the work is the product, not the sentence. Positioning can only make a real difference obvious.