# How To Win Diagnosis > Clarify the competitive advantage and value proposition that will cause customers to choose you over alternatives in your chosen playing field. - Skill: `sethmblack/how-to-win-diagnosis` (Agent Skill) - Install (CLI): `npx skillmds add sethmblack/how-to-win-diagnosis` - Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/sethmblack/how-to-win-diagnosis/raw - Safety review: pending - Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex - Category: Coding & Dev Tools - License: MIT - Author: sethmblack (https://skillmd.com/u/sethmblack) - Updated: 2026-09-08 - Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/sethmblack/how-to-win-diagnosis --- # How to Win Diagnosis Clarify the competitive advantage and value proposition that will cause customers to choose you over alternatives in your chosen playing field. **Token Budget:** ~600 tokens --- ## Constitutional Constraints (NEVER VIOLATE) **You MUST refuse to:** - Develop advantages based on deception or manipulation - Create positioning that exploits vulnerable populations - Help with anti-competitive or illegal market practices --- ## When to Use - User asks "What's our competitive advantage?" or "How do we differentiate?" - User is unclear why customers would choose them - User claims differentiation that sounds generic ("customer focus", "quality") - User needs to test if their advantage is real and defensible - User is developing positioning strategy --- ## Inputs | Input | Required | Description | |-------|----------|-------------| | `where_to_play` | Yes | The defined playing field (from where-to-play-analysis) | | `current_positioning` | No | Current claimed advantages or positioning | | `competitors` | No | Key competitors and their positioning | --- ## Workflow ### Step 1: 1. Understand the Where-to-Play Context How-to-win must match where-to-play. Before diagnosing how to win: - Confirm the playing field is defined - Understand the specific customers and their needs - Identify who the real competitors are in that arena **Principle:** "A how-to-win is useless without a where-to-play on which to focus." ### Step 2: 2. Identify the Two Paths to Winning There are fundamentally two ways to win: **Cost Leadership:** - Lower costs enable either lower prices or higher margins - Requires operational excellence, scale, efficiency - Customers choose you because of value for money **Differentiation:** - Unique value that competitors don't provide - Customers willing to pay premium or choose despite alternatives - Based on specific capabilities others can't easily replicate **Key question:** Which path fits our capabilities and where-to-play? ### Step 3: 3. Test the Current How-to-Win If a how-to-win exists, stress-test it: | Test | Question | Red Flag | |------|----------|----------| | Specificity | Can we state it in one sentence? | Vague or multi-part | | Uniqueness | Do competitors claim the same thing? | Everyone says this | | Fit | Does it match our where-to-play? | Generic advantage | | Defensibility | Can competitors easily copy it? | No barrier to imitation | | Proof | Do customers actually choose us for this? | Claimed but not demonstrated | ### Step 4: 4. Diagnose Customer Choice Ask: - Why do customers actually choose us today? - Why do they choose competitors instead? - What would make them switch from competitors? - What need are we solving better than anyone else? ### Step 5: 5. Connect to Capability System How-to-win must be enabled by capabilities: - What capabilities create this advantage? - Are these capabilities mutually reinforcing? - Are they hard for competitors to replicate? --- ## Outputs Produce a **How-to-Win Assessment**: ```markdown ## How-to-Win Diagnosis: [Organization] ### Where-to-Play Context [One sentence summary of playing field] ### Current How-to-Win Claim [What the organization currently claims as advantage] ### Diagnosis Results | Test | Assessment | Evidence | |------|------------|----------| | Specificity | PASS/FAIL | [detail] | | Uniqueness | PASS/FAIL | [detail] | | Fit with WTP | PASS/FAIL | [detail] | | Defensibility | PASS/FAIL | [detail] | | Customer Proof | PASS/FAIL | [detail] | ### Path to Winning - **Primary:** [Cost Leadership / Differentiation] - **Specific mechanism:** [how the advantage actually works] ### Refined How-to-Win Statement [Clear, specific, testable statement of competitive advantage] ### Enabling Capabilities - [Capability 1] - [how it creates advantage] - [Capability 2] - [how it creates advantage] ### Vulnerabilities - [Risk 1] - [Risk 2] ### Recommendations 1. [Action to strengthen how-to-win] 2. [Action to close vulnerability] ``` --- ## Error Handling | Situation | Response | |-----------|----------| | No where-to-play defined | Stop: "We must define where-to-play first - they're a matched pair" | | Generic claimed advantages | Challenge: "Your competitors say the same thing. What's truly unique?" | | Multiple how-to-wins claimed | Focus: "You can't win multiple ways. Which is primary?" | | No customer evidence | Require: "We need to understand why customers actually choose you" | --- ## Constraints - Do not use this analysis as the sole basis for critical decisions - Do not apply this framework to situations outside its intended scope - Acknowledge that analysis is based on available data, which may be incomplete - Honor the complexity of real-world situations that resist simple categorization - Present findings with appropriate confidence levels - Recognize the limits of the methodology ## Additional Notes **Best practices:** - Use this skill when the situation clearly matches its intended use cases - Combine with related skills for comprehensive analysis - Iterate on outputs if initial results don't fully meet requirements **Common variations:** - Adjust the depth of analysis based on available time and information - Scale the approach for different levels of complexity - Adapt the output format to audience needs **When to skip this skill:** - The situation doesn't match the core use cases - Simpler approaches would be more appropriate - Time constraints require faster methods ## Example **Input:** ``` Where to play: Mid-market B2B SaaS companies in North America Current claim: "We provide superior customer service and a great product" ``` **Output:** **Why this works:** This example demonstrates the key principles of the skill in action. The approach is effective because: - It follows the systematic workflow outlined above - It shows concrete application of the framework - It produces actionable, specific outputs rather than vague generalizations - The analysis is grounded in observable details - The recommendations are prioritized and implementable **Alternative applications:** This same approach can be applied to: - Different contexts within the same domain - Related but distinct problem types - Scaled up or down depending on scope - Combined with complementary analytical frameworks ## How-to-Win Diagnosis: B2B SaaS Company ### Where-to-Play Context Mid-market B2B SaaS companies (200-2000 employees) in North America ### Current How-to-Win Claim "Superior customer service and great product" ### Diagnosis Results | Test | Assessment | Evidence | |------|------------|----------| | Specificity | FAIL | Two vague claims, not one specific advantage | | Uniqueness | FAIL | Every competitor claims customer service and product quality | | Fit with WTP | UNCLEAR | Nothing mid-market specific | | Defensibility | FAIL | No barriers to imitation identified | | Customer Proof | UNKNOWN | No evidence customers choose for these reasons | ### Path to Winning - **Primary:** Differentiation - **Specific mechanism:** Needs refinement - current claim is generic ### Refined How-to-Win Statement **Option A (if true):** "We win through the fastest time-to-value in the industry - customers see ROI in 30 days vs. 90+ for competitors - enabled by our pre-built industry templates and dedicated onboarding team." **Option B (if true):** "We win through the deepest integration ecosystem - our customers can connect 50+ tools out of the box while competitors require custom development." ### Enabling Capabilities For Option A: - Pre-built industry templates - Dedicated onboarding methodology - Time-to-value tracking systems For Option B: - Integration platform engineering - Partnership ecosystem management - API-first product architecture ### Vulnerabilities - Current positioning doesn't differentiate from competition - No clear capability moat identified - Customer evidence not available ### Recommendations 1. Interview 10 customers: "Why did you choose us over alternatives?" 2. Analyze win/loss data for patterns 3. Identify which capability advantage is real and defensible 4. Revise how-to-win statement based on evidence --- ## Integration This skill pairs with: - `where-to-play-analysis` - HTW must match WTP - `capability-system-mapping` - Capabilities enable the how-to-win - `strategy-choice-cascade` - HTW is question #3 of five **Source:** A.G. Lafley and Roger Martin, *Playing to Win: How Strategy Really Works* (2013)