Why we look and sound like our competition!

No sales executive, marketer, CEO, or entrepreneur sets out to sound the same as their competition. It’s quite the opposite.

We slave over our unique value proposition.

We massage every word in our unique selling statements.

We conduct competitive analyses and ensure the explanation of our benefits, features, and functions distinguish our products or services from everyone else.

So, why is it that while you’re consciously working to sound different, you’re looking more and more like your competition?

#Twinning. Yes, Twinning: the accidental dressing or looking like your spouse, friends, family, or significant other.

George Clooney started mimicking Amal Alamuddin’s style early in their relationship.

David Beckham wore more and more black leather as he courted former Spice Girl, Victoria Adams.

Brad Pitt even bleached his hair blonde and sported bangs that matched his girlfriend’s, Gwyneth Paltrow.

#Twinning.

Relationship experts call this phenomenon harmonious dressing.

Psychologists call it Couple Conformity and even have evidence that sub-consciously couples will start dressing similarly about six months into a relationship.

Six months. That’s all it takes for our subconscious to start working as hard as it can to help us fit in.

Twinning doesn’t just happen with couples. Start a new job, and before long you begin conforming to the style of your new workplace.

We conform to the environment we’re in, and we do it unintentionally.

So, spend a lot of time researching our competition, seeing them at trade shows and conferences, talking about them in meetings, selling against them with prospects, and before long our subconscious begins to undo all the hard work we’ve invested in sounding different.

We suddenly find ourselves suffering from a severe case of Competitive Conformity: unintentionally looking and sounding like your opposition. Before you know it we’re selling a commodity.

The only way to overcome Competitive Conformity is to BE different conscientiously.

So instead of re-working how you describe your product’s features and functions, DO something different for the very next client you secure.

Instead of refining your unique selling statement looking for language no one else uses, DO something different on your next sales call.

Differences sell. They sell at higher margins. They’re infinitely more referable. They’re memorable.

But the key to looking and sounding different is to DO something different.