It is important to list the unique features of your business.  If your audience has read your mission statement, they will now understand the market you intend to target, the need endemic to that market, and the means by which you plan to meet that need.  Their next logical question will be, “What makes this business different from others?”  Your readers might have read business plans for the same or similar types of businesses.  Your business plan must standout in content-- it must demonstrate that your business will be superior to other businesses performing the same or similar products or deliver the same of similar products.

To explain what makes your business different, you should first have an understanding of the business with which you will be competing.  You will get an opportunity to compare and contrast yourself extensively with your competitors in the “competition” section of your business plan.  However, you should be able to make broad assertions of your uniqueness based on that information here.

It is also important that you understand the range of your competition in order to establish your uniqueness among them.  For example, will your competitors be national (e.g.-- a mail order business) or local (e.g.-- a restaurant).   Frame your statements of uniqueness against the proper competitive backdrop for the maximum impact on your reader.

Finally, you should state or imply why a customer should select your business over the competition and why such a selection would be worthwhile to them.  Your unique feature or features might be the service you provide, the hours you stay open, the price you can offer, or the additional capabilities your product or service has that your competitors do not.

As with other sections in your Executive Summary chapter, be thorough, but brief.  An excellent section here will virtually guarantee continued interest in your business.