Competitive gap worksheet

List buyer jobs and alternatives, score coverage from public evidence, then pick a gap you can serve and prove. Not a feature table.

Start from buyer jobs, not from features. Use their words from calls, tickets, and reviews.

Score only from evidence you can link and date. Write “?” when you cannot find any. Do not guess.

Score yourself the same way. If your own evidence is weak, fix that before you pick a headline.

flowchart TD
    J["Customer jobs"] --> A["Alternatives"]
    A --> S["Score coverage"]
    S --> G["Gaps you can own"]
    G --> P["Proof needed"]

Customer jobs

Six to ten jobs, in the buyer’s words, ranked 1 to 5 by how much they care.

Job (buyer’s words)Type (functional, social, risk)SourceImportance 1 to 5
  • One primary buyer named
  • Jobs copied from calls, tickets, reviews, or first emails, with source noted
  • Ranked by buyer importance, not by what we do well

Alternatives

Five to seven. Include the default if you disappear.

AlternativeTypeEvidence URLDate checked
Direct rival
Adjacent category
DIY or in-house
Freelancer or friend
Do nothingInertiaAsk buyers what happened last time they put it off
  • Do nothing is on the list
  • Near-identical rivals merged into one row

Coverage scores

0 = not addressed. 1 = claimed, not shown. 2 = addressed with evidence. ? = unknown.

JobAlternative AAlternative BAlternative CUsNotes and URLs
  • Every score has a URL and a date. No score from memory
  • We scored ourselves on the same scale
  • Unknowns are marked “?” rather than guessed

Gaps you can own

Candidate gap (job)Demand: asked unprompted?Delivery: repeatable at our price?Proof: checkable today?
  • Demand: buyers raised it unprompted, in their own words
  • Delivery: we can do it for most buyers, repeatedly, at our price
  • Proof: we can show it today with something checkable
  • One gap selected. Others noted for later

Proof still needed

  • List of proof we do not have yet (page, screenshot, process doc, permissioned fact)
  • Owner and date for each missing proof item
  • Draft line: for [buyer] who needs [job], we [specific thing], unlike [the alternative they use]
  • Line tested on three people outside the company. They can say it back
  • Re-score reminder set for six months, or when a rival repositions

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