When you try to be good at everything while your competitors are trying to do the same, you’re doing the opposite of differentiating. You’ll basically converge on 3 for every attribute that customers could care about. Look at how Southwest does it differently:
The attributes at the top are the ones more important to their core customer (not every airline customer, just Southwest’s core customer). Notice how the top 3 are the brand promise (low fares, lots of flights, lots of fun). The ones at the bottom are ones the core customer cares about least. These are what Southwest is willing to suck at. By choosing to deprioritize these areas, they can take the money they would otherwise spend there and use it to improve performance at the top of the page. I recommend you try to make a map like this for your company. I’d love to see what you come up with. Send me a copy: ted@tedsarvata.com
I free up entrepreneurs for greater impact. Day to day demands of your growing business will sap your energy and blunt your effectiveness. Together we can work to reduce demands by up to 80% while moving more quickly in the direction of your purpose.
Ted Sarvata 
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