The Three Pillars of Preeminence
A framework for founders and CEOs to build trust, pricing power, and lasting growth by solving what actually matters
What separates a good business from a preeminent one? Not louder marketing. Not faster features. Not more hustle. Preeminent businesses operate from a deeper, structured understanding of why customers choose, why they pay, and why they stay.
In my consulting work at the intersection of UX, product strategy, and business growth, I’ve developed a framework I call the Three Pillars of Preeminence, grounded in Jay Abraham’s classic “Three Ways to Grow a Business” and refined through direct work with founders and product teams.
Summary of the Pillars of Preeminence
Each pillar is rooted in a specific kind of clarity and each unlocks a specific kind of leverage:
Utility → Helps you attract the right customers
Competitive Advantage → Allows you to charge more
Differentiation → Encourages repeat use and referrals
Here’s how each works and the questions that help you apply it.
1. Utility: Solve a Real Problem People Actually Care About
If your offer doesn’t solve a painful, persistent need, no amount of marketing will save it. Utility is the foundation. I might even go so far as to say that utility is the only user experience metric that matters… or at least it's the most important. It stands out because if you don't have the foundation of utility, it doesn't matter.
You won't get more customers to use your product or service if it doesn't solve a need or “pain point” that they have and want to be solved. And even that they want to pay to have it solved.
It’s the answer to this question: Does your product/service solve something that matters to your target audience? If you are, that means:
The problem is real (not theoretical, and not just your problem)
The customer feels it frequently and/or deeply
The stakes are high if it doesn’t get solved… so high they are even willing to pay to get it solved
You understand their world better than they do and can thus create a solution for them: your product or service
Questions to Reflect on:
What’s the #1 pain your product addresses?
How often do your customers face this issue? (Frequency)
How long does it take? (Duration)
How important is it to them to solve this problem? (Importance)
How are they solving it without you or your product/service right now? (Current behaviors)
Do they recognize the problem, or do you need to surface it? (Marketing implications)
Tools & Methods:
Customer Interviews (And map frequency and importance of current behaviors, goals/motivations, and barriers/pain points)
Segment prioritization
Pitfall to avoid: Trying to grow without clarity on the real problem you’re solving. You’ll attract the wrong people, or no one at all. You'll also be spending time and money in developing a product that people don't need.
People don't use products they don't need. They don't just hang out at home and think to themselves… “Hmm, I think I'll go try out this new app!”
NOPE.
They stick to what they know. They make the best of what they have. And they suffer through solutions and tools that aren't best for the job. And when they're frustrated or confused: they stop. They ask for help. Or they give up entirely.
This is why it's so important for your product to solve their problem, for your message to land, and for your product to be easy to use.
2. Ethical Competitive Advantage: Solve It Better Than Anyone Else
People don’t pay more for different. They pay more for better. They don't care if your app is using AI or not. They care if it solves their problem. They don't care about features, they care about effectiveness.
Once you’ve locked in utility, the next pillar is competitive advantage. This is where pricing power begins: not with clever pricing models, but with real, distinctive value.
Jay Abraham defines value this way:
“Value is the translation of a meaningful outcome the recipient wants. It is what something does for someone, how it impacts their life, business, or reality. It is not about what you do, it is about what it does for them. That is value. Value creation means you are focused on outcomes. You are not selling a process. You are not selling a promise. You are delivering a transformation.”
You can't charge more for your product if you're not providing more value than your competitors are. You're not going to get your customers to pay more if you're not delivering more. Your product has to be best-in-class when stacked up against your competitors. It has to be preeminent. Top of mind.
The key question you have to address is: How are you solving this problem in a way your competitors aren’t? There are three different approaches to this type of product innovation:
Solving a latent need no one else sees - I call this Telescope Innovation: Looking OUT to find new problems to solve
Solving a known need in a clearly better way - I call this Microscope Innovation: Looking IN at your product and solving customer needs in a different way than your competitors
Reframing the entire problem to your advantage - This requires Wide-Angle Lens Innovation: Reframing the problem and your solution in such a way as to alert your customers to a problem they didn't know they had
Now let's talk about doing this ethically… It's not about copying what your competitors do. If you just copy your competitors, you'll always be playing catch up and you'll never be first to market with your cool new feature.
You must understand the features that your competitors have and how they do it, but your goal for product innovation is to do it your way. The way that delights customers by its’ simplicity and ease of use.
You have to be aware of your competitors and then ignore them. Focus on the problem you're solving and then solve it in your own unique and different way.
Questions to Reflect on:
What do your top customers say you do best?
What does your product do that competitors don’t (or not as well)?
Are you solving a problem your competitors haven’t even identified yet?
Could you create a new category or sub-category by reframing the problem?
Why do your target customers choose your competitor product over yours?
Tools & Methods:
Kano model analysis - This is one of my favorite ways to assess table stakes features your product must have vs. the kind of features that will be the reason that your happiest customers choose your product or service over your competitors
Adjacent possibility mapping
Pitfall to avoid: Raising your prices before raising your value. Advantage must be earned, not assumed. Value is a trade-off your customers make in their minds: Are you offering enough value that the price is fair? worth it? a bargain? or way too expensive?
You always want your customers to feel that your pricing is lower than the value they receive from your product. If it's equal or higher in comparison to the value they receive, THEY WON'T PAY MORE.
3. Differentiation: Align What You Promise with What You Deliver
Trust is built when the product does exactly what the message promised, and then delights because it actually does more. You differentiate your product through your marketing messaging and that all ties back to the need your product solves (Pillar 1) and how you solve it better than your competitors (Pillar 2).
Differentiation isn’t about being louder, cleverer, or more colorful. It’s about clarity, consistency, and credibility. At its core is what I call the Product Truth Triangle:
The customer has a need (Research / Customer Lens)
You promise to solve it (Marketing / Business Lens)
The product actually delivers on that promise (Design & Engineering / Product Lens)
Questions to Reflect on:
Do your customers feel like your product fulfilled the promise?
Are they telling others about it… even unsolicited?
Do they recommend your product to others?
Are your best customers using words in their testimonials that match your positioning?
Is there a breakdown between message, delivery, and result?
Tools & Methods:
Voice of Customer analysis
Referral triggers & systems (More from Villy Abraham)
Follow-up surveys
Pitfall to avoid: Expecting loyalty or referrals without product-message alignment. Misalignment = mistrust. And if you have a happy customer come in to use your product and it fails them, they are gone for good.
The Infinity Loop of Preeminence
The three pillars of preeminence aren’t siloed. They work together, reinforcing each other in an infinite loop:
Utility draws the right customers in
Ethical Competitive Advantage justifies premium pricing and strengthens retention
Differentiation reinforces trust, repeat use, and referrals… which attract more of the right customers
Around and around it goes.
If one area is weak, the loop stalls. So it's important to be constantly listening to your customers and iteratively testing product over time. I call this holistic measurement strategy. You should be constantly measuring what success looks like and gathering new data to refine. Quant and Qual. What people say and what people do.
But if all three are strong? You’ve got a business that doesn’t just grow, it compounds. Your growth is not just linear, it becomes exponential when you approach all three.
Which pillar is your strongest right now and which one needs the most work?
Here's a TL;DR of the key questions:
Does the product solve a human need and is it the most painful problem?
Is your product best-in-class and better than the competition?
Does the messaging reflect reality and build trust?
I’d love to hear your thoughts!
And if you’re working on a new product or repositioning your business, this framework is a great diagnostic starting point. Reach out if you need help or want to talk through ideas about how I can help you through it.
Cheers!
Josh