When Everything Sounds the Same

Hard work used to be a differentiator.

Show up earlier. Stay later. Make more calls. Send more emails. Grind harder than the next guy.

That was the advice for decades. And it worked, because most people weren't willing to do it.

I had a manager once tell me, “Jeff, I know you won’t be outworked.” It was a compliment and it felt good.

But here's the problem: hard work isn't a differentiator anymore.

Now we have people building bots to work 24 hours a day, so they only have to work four. The grind has been automated. Effort has been commoditized.

How do you differentiate yourself when you can't outwork the machines?

You lean into the things that most people still aren't willing to do.

The Sameness Problem

Line your website up with the pages of your top three competitors.

Remove the logos. Remove the colors. Just look at the copy.

Can you tell which one is yours?

If you can't, then think about your customers.

Most B2B companies sound exactly alike.

"We're committed to exceptional customer service."

"We build trusted partnerships."

"We deliver innovative solutions."

"Our people make the difference."

None of that is wrong. It's not different, and it certainly doesn't tell the whole story.

Every competitor says the same thing, and when everyone says the same thing, no one stands out.

Your messaging becomes wallpaper. Present but invisible. Taking up space without making an impression.

Why It Happens

Usually, it’s fear.

Getting specific means making choices. It means saying "we're great at this," which implies "we're not great at that." It means narrowing your appeal. It means some prospects might disqualify themselves.

That feels risky. So companies hedge. They broaden the message to appeal to everyone. They smooth the edges. They use language that's safe and inoffensive and utterly forgettable.

What’s interesting is that the effect on the consumer is normally quite the opposite. “If they’re so great at this, I wonder if they could do that too…” is often the case.

When you try to please everyone, you end up thrilling no one. The safe choice is actually quite risky.

Now, with AI writing everyone's copy, the sameness is accelerating. It’s aggregated mediocrity at scale.

The Surface Level Trap

The other reason messaging goes generic: companies don't actually know what makes them different.

They know they're good. They know customers like them. They know their people work hard and care about results.

But when you ask them to get specific, they reach for the same words everyone else uses. Relationships. Trust. Service. Experience.

Those aren't differentiators. They're table stakes.

The real differentiators lie further beneath the surface. They’re the specific behaviors, the particular way you solve problems, and the outcomes you create that others don't.

But if you've never done the work to really excavate those, you don't know what they are. So you end up defaulting back to the generic.

The Human Advantage

In a world where everything else is becoming commoditized, specificity is the human advantage.

Are you willing to dig in and get hyper-specific about what you actually do to help people?

Are you willing to sit down with your biggest and best customers and ask them for specific validation around why they chose you?

Are you willing to lean into the humanness of what you do, to get vulnerable with the people who mean the most to you?

Most people aren't. That's what makes it a differentiator.

The bots can outwork you, but I’m betting big that they can't out-human you.

The Customer's Words

Here's a simple test: Does your messaging use your language or your customer's language?

Most companies write copy that describes what they do from the inside out. Features, capabilities, processes, methodologies.

But customers don't care about your process. They care about their problems. They care about outcomes. They care about what changes for them.

These validation conversations give you their language. The words they use to describe their challenges. The outcomes they actually value. The reasons they chose you over the alternative.

That language is gold. And most sellers will never collect it.

The Competitive Opportunity

Specificity is your competitive advantage.

When everyone else says "trusted partner," and you say exactly what you do differently and why it matters, you stand out.

When everyone else leads with features, and you lead with the specific outcomes your best customers value, you connect.

When everyone else sounds like everyone else, and you sound like you, you're memorable.

The bar is so low you can step over it. Still, most companies can't clear it because they've never done the work to know what makes them different.

Do that work. Clear the bar.