Little Post Office Boxes

Here's one way to model how people think about businesses, including yours.

Imagine that people have little cubicles in their head, like the post office boxes in a post office. Each cubicle is labeled with a single problem just as each post office box is labeled with a single name or address. Inside the cubicle is the name of a solution. People create a new cubicle every time they come up with a new problem and inside it they generally put the name of one solution. Here are some examples:

• When it comes to sending packages, people might have a cubicle labeled "I need mail delivered overnight" and inside it will be the name of one company: FedEx. They might have another cubicle labeled "I need mail delivered cheaply" and inside it will be the name of one organization: The Post Office.
• When it comes to buying books, people might have a cubicle labeled "I need to hold a book in my hand and look at it before I decide to buy" and inside it will be the name of one company: Barnes & Noble. They may have another cubicle labeled "I need to find all the books there are about a particular topic" and inside it will be the name of one company: Amazon.com. Perhaps they'll have another cubicle labeled "I need to borrow some books for free" and inside will be the name of one organization: The Public Library.

See how it works? Then here's your goal:

You want your web business to be so different from other related web businesses that your customers decide it warrants a new little cubicle in their minds with a new little problem label and the name of your web business as the solution!

Once they do that then each time they need to solve the problem they think you solve, they'll think of the label and, "poof," they'll find the cubicle, look inside and there will be the name of your web site. It will leave your competition out in the cold.

Your 20 Minute Task

You've done a lot of thinking about how your web business is going to address your competitors' weaknesses and how it is going to do a better job than anyone else at solving your customers' problem.

Now, write down how that makes your web business different. List as many differences as you can. How is your solution to their problem different? Faster? Cheaper? Smarter? Available in better colors? Better tasting? Less harmful to the environment? Designed just for women? Longer lasting? Heavier? Lighter? Or whatever is important.

In particular, think: How can I use the web to make the customer's experience different and better?

As usual, file the results in your "Competitor Intelligence" file.