--- title: What should I say when a prospect asks what makes us different from our competitors? description: Asked what makes you different from your competitors? Sales trainer Josh Hedaya explains why the usual three bullet points blend in and what to say instead. --- [Skip to content](https://go.connectionselling.io/connection-selling-blog/what-makes-you-different-from-competitors#main-content) Get started Get started # What should I say when a prospect asks what makes us different from our competitors? ![Josh Hedaya](https://7528315.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hub/7528315/hubfs/raw_assets/public/mV0_d-cms-elevate-theme_hubspot/elevate/images/avatar-placeholder.jpg?width=48&height=48&name=avatar-placeholder.jpg) Josh Hedaya October 20, 2026 **TL;DR:** When a prospect asks what makes you different, don't answer it head on: ask about their situation first, and present only what they tell you matters. Sales trainer Josh Hedaya of Connection Selling teaches sellers to say, "I'm not sure we'd even be the right provider for you. We probably need to talk to you first." Every competitor answers with the same bullet points. The seller who asks first is the one who sounds different. On one of Josh's live webinars, a sales manager who sells AI software to law firms described the moment. "Sometimes they ask me right off the bat like, 'Okay, well, what's different?'" Her answer, by her own account: "I tend to fall back on, like, three bullet point items... because I don't know exactly which competitors they're looking at." Later: "I'm like, uh, here's the kitchen sink. Pick something that you like." Most sellers know that moment. Josh does too. On another webinar, in a list of five warning signs, he included this one: you answer "that question that you should never answer," which is "Why are you guys different?" Below is what Josh teaches instead. If the buyer has already told you she is choosing between you and a competitor this week, that is a later moment in the deal, and Josh covers it in [Fear in B2B Sales: What to Do When a Buyer Is Choosing Between You and a Competitor](https://go.connectionselling.io/connection-selling-blog/fear-in-b2b-sales-what-to-do-when-a-buyer-is-choosing-between-you-and-a-competitor). ## Why do "what makes you different" answers all sound the same? Because every seller answers about himself, and every competitor says the same things about themselves. In his course, Josh walks through the usual answers: "Well, we're number one in customer service. Or look at this third party reference here, and they ranked us the best." Then he asks the obvious question back: "how many companies, when asked why we should go with you, ever says, you know, we're the second best at customer service, or we have the third best product, nobody." So the buyer hears the same claims from every seller in the running. Josh's point is that buyers are often meeting with two or three other providers, everyone is talking about logic and facts, and "it all blends together." On a live webinar he said it in one line: "All sellers sound the same, we just don't realize it." ## What should I say when a prospect asks what makes us different? Say you don't know yet whether you're the right fit for them, and ask to learn about their situation first. Josh's course gives the reply for "why should we go with you?" word for word: "Well, candidly, I'm not quite sure that you should yet. Would it be all right if I learn a little bit more about your situation, and then I'll be able to assess whether or not we can even help you." For "what makes you different than your competitors," his version runs: "It's a very good question. We're lucky enough to service a lot of people in the marketplace. I'm not sure we'd even be the right provider for you. We probably need to talk to you first before we could tell you definitively we are better than any of our competitors for you." It works because it is true, and because nobody else says it. Until you have heard their situation, you don't know if you can help. Josh's line is that "that type of answer will pretzel their brain" and starts to flip the magnet, his phrase for the buyer pulling you in. Say it slowly. "The rule of thumb is, the faster you talk, the weaker you sound. Your power actually comes from slowing down." It will not feel natural the first time. Josh admits it doesn't for him either. "I don't wanna talk about the competition. Competition's scary. I wanna talk about me and how we can help you." Then he asked the seller he was coaching, "Doesn't it make you a little bit uncomfortable?" ## What should I ask before I answer? Ask what they like about the provider they use today, what they don't, and what it looks like once it's fixed. Start with what they like. On a webinar, a seller of industrial computers worried that asking about the current vendor meant asking the buyer to break an NDA. Josh's fix: "Oh, I, I get it. I don't need to know the company. What I'm more actually interested in is what do they do well? How is it helping you?" The seller saw the point right away: it "tells you what they see as, you know, the ideal supplier partner." Then ask what isn't working, and every time they use a word you think you understand, ask for an example. "Like, can you give me an example? You say dirty environment. Like, can you walk me through what that looks like? I just don't wanna assume that I know what you're talking about." Josh goes deeper on this in [I ask all the discovery questions I've been taught, but prospects still don't tell me the truth. What should I do?](https://go.connectionselling.io/connection-selling-blog/discovery-questions-prospects-dont-tell-the-truth) Then ask for the picture. Josh's wording: "Say that you get the right provider in place again. I don't know if it's us. What does it look like day in and day out? Can you paint that picture for me?" And the buyer has the answer ready. In Josh's words, "they've thought about it a lot longer than you have." ## How do I show I'm different without saying it? Present back only what the buyer told you, in their words, and cut everything else. Josh learned this from a buyer at a large financial services company, early in his career. The first part of the meeting went really well. He learned their needs, their history, whether they'd tried to change it. Then he opened the presentation and went right back to the case studies. About five minutes in, the buyer stopped him. "What's going on here? ... We just spent like, 15, 20 minutes dissecting exactly what it is I needed, and you're just giving me, like, this stock presentation." Then: "I've had three people in here prior to you, your competitors, and you all are saying the same thing. You had me thinking you were different right there for a second." Josh closed that deal. What he took from the meeting, in his own words: "you have to package then all of the needs, the problems and the solutions, right how they want to solve it, and strip out all the fat of your presentation, just to them, just to what they care about. And that's how it lands, and that's how you stand out." He calls it a scalpel instead of a hammer. In the course he says, "I'm so grateful that this happened." When you have presented the part that matches what they told you, ask them to confirm it. Josh calls it an opt-in question, and his example is plain: is this actually what you're looking for? ## What does a generic answer sound like? A real example from a live webinar It sounds like your biggest competitor. On a live webinar, a seller at a commercial cleaning company took the hot seat about a private high school he had just lost. He had walked the campus. The president, the principal and the business office person were in the meeting. He emailed the proposal, and the buyer went quiet. (If that part sounds familiar, Josh covers it in [A prospect ghosted me after I sent the proposal. What should I do next?](https://go.connectionselling.io/connection-selling-blog/a-prospect-ghosted-me-after-i-sent-the-proposal-what-should-i-do-next)) In the meeting, he and his supervisor had talked about their experience with other schools, how they're structured and how long the company had been around. Then Josh had him name his biggest competitor and asked, "If I asked \[them\] what makes you different, what would they say?" "Wow. Um, well, they'll say that they're the, the biggest commercial cleaning service in the country." And: "they're the 800-pound gorilla in the industry." Josh: "That sound a little bit like what you talked about?" The seller pushed back. He had focused on communication, he said, because it's one of the biggest problems in the industry. Josh didn't argue the point. "I'm quite certain you did. Here's what I'm pointing out... All sellers sound the same, we just don't realize it." His advice: "cut out the fat of your company, your approach, unless it's actually relevant." Then Josh showed what he would have said, built only from what the school had told the seller about weekend events and a building that was not a great environment for learning. He was clear he had to guess at the buyer's vision, because the seller never asked for it. His version ended: "it's not that just someone's there, it's that someone is there to clean it appropriately so Monday morning there isn't that stink." The recording does not show whether the seller won the school back. When Josh asked what helped most, the seller named the piece he had skipped: "The vision part." ## What do I write when an RFP asks what makes us different? Write the same honest answer, and treat the RFP as a way to get the meeting. Josh is direct about the goal: "Your goal anytime you get an RFP is just to get to round two." A question like "what makes you different than your competitors" is the RFP asking you to sell, so he answers it with the same reply, quoted above. Once his team got the meeting, he says, the buyers looked at them differently, "because we weren't giving them stock answers." In the meeting, even when procurement has sent a punch list for the demo, open with one question before you show anything: "before we do that, we just want to make sure that this is a valuable use of your time. Is there anything else you'd like us to know, or is there anything in addition that you would want to discuss?" Josh says everyone at the table will want to answer. Then show them what they asked to see, aimed at what they just told you. ## Checklist: before you answer "what makes you different" - Slow down, and say you're not sure yet that you're the right provider for them. - Ask if you can learn a little more about their situation first. - Ask what they like about the provider they use today, and how it helps them. - Ask for an example every time they use a word you think you understand. - Ask what it looks like day in and day out once the problem is fixed. - Cut every slide about your history, size and awards that they did not ask about. - Present only what they told you matters, then ask if it's actually what they're looking for. ## FAQ ### Isn't it evasive not to answer the question? It's the honest answer. Before you've heard the buyer's situation, you don't know whether you can help them. Josh's reply says exactly that, and then asks for the information you need to give a real answer. ### What if the buyer insists and says, "I want to see it"? Josh tells sellers, "don't believe your buyers. Yet." In his experience buyers ask to be sold to, "and then they tune out." Ask your opening question anyway. Josh says it can take as little as two minutes before you move to what they want to see. ### What if the buyer won't say which provider they use today? You don't need the name. Josh's line: "I don't need to know the company. What I'm more actually interested in is what do they do well? How is it helping you?" ### Should I ever talk about my company's history or size? Only when it ties to something the buyer told you matters. Josh's rule is to cut "the fat of your company, your approach, unless it's actually relevant." Want more of how Josh teaches discovery? His free guide, [Secrets of B2B Follow-Up](https://go.connectionselling.io/follow-up), shows how to use what buyers tell you to keep the deal moving. ## Share this post [mailto:https%3A%2F%2Fgo.connectionselling.io%2Fconnection-selling-blog%2Fwhat-makes-you-different-from-competitors](mailto:https%3A%2F%2Fgo.connectionselling.io%2Fconnection-selling-blog%2Fwhat-makes-you-different-from-competitors) ## Keep reading ### [![They said yes, then went quiet. Josh Hedaya, Connection Selling](https://go.connectionselling.io/hs-fs/hubfs/blog-images/prospect-agreed-to-meeting-then-stopped-responding.png?width=1200&height=627&name=prospect-agreed-to-meeting-then-stopped-responding.png) A prospect agreed to take a meeting and then stopped responding. How do I get them to reply?](https://go.connectionselling.io/connection-selling-blog/prospect-agreed-to-meeting-then-stopped-responding) ### [![They will not tell you the truth. Josh Hedaya, Connection Selling](https://go.connectionselling.io/hs-fs/hubfs/blog-images/discovery-questions-prospects-dont-tell-the-truth.png?width=1200&height=627&name=discovery-questions-prospects-dont-tell-the-truth.png) I ask all the discovery questions I've been taught, but prospects still don't tell me the truth. What should I do?](https://go.connectionselling.io/connection-selling-blog/discovery-questions-prospects-dont-tell-the-truth) # Connection Selling --- Privacy Policy · Legal · © 2026. 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