Stop Answering “What Makes You Different?” (And Start Making It Obvious)
Most prospects eventually ask the same question:
“So… what makes you different from everyone else?”
The answer often sounds familiar:
“We’ve been around for X years”
“We have a great team”
“We’re really passionate about our clients”
Those things aren’t wrong. And they aren’t meaningless.
They help establish credibility. They signal that a business is capable, experienced, and legitimate.
But they’re rarely the deciding factor.
When a buyer is choosing between two (or three) competent options, credentials don’t create clarity. They create sameness.
Differentiation Isn’t About You
Here’s the part most companies miss:
Prospects aren’t comparing businesses in isolation.
They’re comparing future versions of themselves.
What does life look like if they choose this partner?
What gets easier?
What risk feels reduced?
What still feels uncertain?
Differentiation lives in the gap between where a buyer is today and where they believe a partner can take them. Not in a list of features or facts.
To answer the “what makes you different?” question in a way that actually moves a decision forward, companies have to stop describing themselves and start showing how they think, decide, and operate.
1. Lead With What You Believe (And Why It Helps the Buyer)
Values don’t differentiate on their own.
Behavior does.
Saying “we value transparency” is easy. Showing it requires tradeoffs.
Real differentiation sounds more like:
“We don’t charge for things that don’t create leverage. If a tactic isn’t moving the business forward, we’ll say so - even when it costs us revenue.”
Now the value isn’t aspirational. It’s operational.
Strong buyers aren’t looking for perfection.
They’re looking for alignment.
2. Sell the Future, Not the Feature
Buyers don’t decide based on logic alone. They imagine a future and decide whether it feels better than the present.
That’s why features fall flat and outcomes stick.
Instead of listing services, effective differentiation answers:
What stops breaking after this decision?
What becomes simpler?
What finally feels under control?
Not:
“We help companies scale.”
But:
“Leadership stops debating priorities, marketing becomes a system instead of a scramble, and decisions are made with confidence instead of guesswork.”
That’s a future someone can step into.
3. Be Different Before the Contract Is Signed
Most companies wait until after the sale to show what makes them different.
That’s backwards.
Differentiation should be visible in the moments that matter most:
How problems are framed
What questions are asked (and which aren’t)
Where pushback shows up early
Who is clearly not a fit
When thinking is visible pre-sale, the conversation changes.
Instead of:
“What makes you different?”
It becomes:
“This already feels like the right fit.”
The Goal Isn’t to Sound Different
The goal is to feel inevitable.
When differentiation is clear, consistent, and experienced early, selling gets easier. Not because persuasion improves, but because alignment does.
The strongest positioning makes the question “what makes you different?” unnecessary.
And that’s when growth stops being forced - and starts being designed.
