By gaining these insights, Chadha and Levie, co-founder and CEO of citizenM, identified which factors to eliminate, reduce, raise and create. For example, the customers of neither five-star nor three-star hotels saw the front desk, concierge service, bellhops, or doormen as bringing them much-added value. CitizenM saw these as factors they could eliminate.

Next, since the “mobile citizens” they were targeting aren’t the type of customer that spends much time in their room, they realised they could reduce room size – and cost – as this also meant more rooms per square foot of real estate space. And instead, to maintain a high level of comfort and luxury, they raised the quality of the sleeping environment with extra-large king beds, fine linens, good sound insulation, fluffy towels and amazing showers.

Finally, through these market insights, Chadha and Levie discovered that there were new kinds of value that they could create. They eliminated the front desk, replacing it with self-check-in kiosks allowing guests to check in with no lines. And in case help was needed, front desk staff were replaced with multi-tasking ‘ambassadors’ who could help with anything from giving directions to shaking a cocktail.

Check out the strategy canvas of citizenM hotels to see how its value curve diverges from the competition.

CitizenM created the new market space of affordable luxury hotels. CitizenM hotels earn the highest guest rankings in the hospitality industry. Yet, they’re priced to be affordable to three-start customers. The result is an average occupancy rate of 90 percent across its hotels – a whooping 80 percent higher than the industry average. As for costs, its total costs per room are roughly 40 percent lower than the average four-star hotel’s while its cost of staff is a staggering 50 percent lower than the industry’s.

When you apply the four actions framework to the strategy canvas of your industry, you get a revealing new look at old perceived truths. Look at what Apple’s iPhone eliminated, reduced, raised, and created to arrive at a new value curve on the strategy canvas that is clearly differentiated from the competition.

Or how Medellin, Colombia’s second-largest city, applied the four actions framework and acted on it for the Metrocable, the world’s first urban cable car system dedicated to public transport, at half the cost of a comparable railway system. It offered the people of Medellin a leap in value through differentiation and low cost.

Let’s shift our focus to applying the four actions framework and the ERRC grid to your scenario. The ERRC Grid template will come handy.