A Winning Position is the specific, supported reason your chosen customer prefers your company to credible alternatives. It connects what the customer values with a capability or advantage the business can actually deliver.
The opposite rule
The opposite rule tests whether a statement describes a strategic choice. Could another capable company reasonably choose the opposite?
“We provide good service” reveals little because a serious competitor is unlikely to promise bad service. “One integrated service team” versus “specialists chosen separately” describes a real trade-off. Either model could serve a customer well; the question is which customer values yours and what evidence supports it.
Passing the test does not prove that customers care, that the position is profitable or that a competitor cannot copy it. The test sharpens the choice. Customer evidence and financial results test whether it works.
The Moat Test
A moat is an advantage that competitors find difficult to reproduce and that the company can keep using. The Moat Test examines whether a proposed winning position has that support. It asks four questions:
| Question | What would support the answer |
|---|---|
| Is it valuable to this customer? | Buying decisions, customer accounts of the benefit or measured outcomes show why it matters. |
| Is it relatively rare? | A defined comparison shows that suitable alternatives do not routinely offer the same benefit. |
| Is it hard to copy? | The capability, relationships, rights or accumulated know-how would take a competitor meaningful time, investment or effort to reproduce. |
| Does the company capture the benefit? | People, systems, commercial terms and delivery practices let the business earn and retain the benefit beyond the owner’s personal involvement. |
An advantage can be valuable without being rare. A rare capability can still be easy to copy. And an owner can possess expertise the company has not learned to deliver. Each finding suggests different work; a favorable answer to one question cannot settle the others.
Use Yes, No or Unknown with evidence in the Winning Position Worksheet. A missing comparison stays Unknown. The checks do not add up to a milestone score or establish a valuation premium. The approved milestone requirements assess the whole supported strategy and its use.
Support the position with evidence
The iBD worksheet uses Greg Meredith’s five positioning lenses: scale, integration, execution, preferred and exclusivity. They help you examine where the advantage comes from. They are not five separate promises every company must make.
Translate the selected position into a claim your team can explain and support. For example, a hypothetical provider might compete on reliable completion within an agreed response window. It would need dated delivery records and a meaningful comparison, rather than an unsupported “fastest in the market” claim.
Retention, turnaround, quality and switching difficulty can provide evidence. Define the period and sample behind the number. A percentage by itself does not establish superiority, and a single claim need not be impossible for anyone else to say to be useful. What matters is a defensible difference in how you deliver it for the chosen customer.
Use it to choose what to fund
The position should help the team assess a proposal, investment or new offer. If the business competes on integrated service, an investment that improves the handoffs may support the plan. A cheaper standalone product might pull the company toward a different promise. Make that choice explicit.
The Winning Position Worksheet supplies the supporting work, and The Evidence Card distills the claim and proof. They feed the Strategic Plan and the financial assumptions it requires. The written Value Growth Plan explains how those choices support ownership goals.
Put the concept to work
Use M13: Strategic Plan for the teaching, tools and full completion requirements. Continue to the customer journey and revenue forecasting as you apply the strategy.