Sometimes when you concentrate on the minute details of a problem, you lose sight of the overall picture - Anon

Here are some of the basic process terminologies we use - we think they will help you understand what do and the value an 'outside' perspective can bring:

In engineering, separation is the transformation of a mixture of substances into two or more compositionally-distinct products: In marketing, we think of separation as making the product or service offering clear and distinct - the first step towards allowing the value proposition to be clearly identified, which itself is the next step to achieving differentiation; In strategic development, we tend to consider separation as the ‘untangling’ of history, custom and practice, roles, and responsibilities in order to establish exactly what it is the organisation is aiming to achieve and who is responsible for achieving it.

A customer value proposition is the sum total of benefits a customer  (or investor) is promised to receive in return for his or her custom. Quite simply, a value proposition is what the customer gets for what the customer pays – a fulfillment of promise and expectation.

In marketing, differentiation is the process of distinguishing the differences of one offering from others, with the distinction of making it more attractive to a particular target market. This involves differentiating it from competitors' products as well as one's own product offerings. In short, differentiation is a source of competitive advantage gained by demonstrating the unique aspects of your offering to create a sense of value. The objective of differentiation is to develop a position customer’s see as unique (or at least compelling!) for which their primary consideration is value, rather than say, price.