Most consultancies have a positioning problem. Their brand voice is where it shows up.

Go to the website of almost any professional services firm. Read the about page. You’ll find some version of the same story: collaborative, strategic, passionate, results-driven. A track record across multiple sectors. A team that really listens.

None of it is untrue.

None of it is useful.

Because none of it is distinctive.

The mistake is to treat this as a writing problem. Brief a better copywriter, refresh the messaging, rework the case studies. The words get sharper but the problem remains, because the problem was never about the words.

The (boring) voice is a symptom

When a consultancy sounds like every other consultancy, it’s usually because they haven’t done the work to figure out what actually makes them different. Not different in the sense of a list of services or a methodology with a name.

Different in the sense of: what do we see that others don’t? What do we believe that others won’t say? What do we consistently do that changes the outcome for clients?

Those aren’t writing questions. They’re strategic ones. Most firms skip them. Because the pressure to win the next client is more immediate than the work of articulating what makes winning clients worth it.

The result is positioning by committee and messaging by imitation. Firms write what sounds ‘professional’. What sounds like the category. What sounds safe.

Because everyone is doing the same thing, the whole sector ends up speaking in the same institutional voice – confident enough to reassure, vague enough to offend no one, distinctive enough… to be forgotten.

What the generic voice sounds like

It hedges. ‘We work closely with clients to develop tailored solutions.’ It borrows authority. ‘As [famous guy] once said...’ It performs enthusiasm. ‘We are passionate about creating a positive impact for our people, clients and community.’ It leads with process rather than a point of view. ’Our proven methodology ensures...’

None of this is dishonest. It’s just empty.

It signals effort without revealing thinking. And thinking – clear, specific, opinionated thinking – is the thing a consultancy is actually selling.

And then there’s AI

AI has the potential to make things worse. Ask ChatGPT to write your about page and it will produce the most statistically average version of what a consultancy sounds like. It’s been trained on the entire category – so it defaults to the category mean. Firms that turn to AI to fix their messaging problem are often deepening it.

The tool isn’t the issue. Using it before you’re clear on the positioning and voice is the problem.

Testing, testing

A test I use with my own writing: does this sound like me, or does it sound like any consultant? For a firm, that question is harder. Without clear positioning, there’s no clear ‘us’ to sound like. And without a brand voice guide, there’s nothing to test against.

What distinctive positioning requires

Conviction about something specific. Not a values statement – conviction. Taking a view on how the work should be done, what the industry gets wrong, or what clients consistently underestimate. Something you’d say in a pitch that might lose you the room but would win you the right clients.

It requires leading with what you believe rather than what you offer. Most consultancy websites lead with services. The firms that stand out lead with a point of view. The services become evidence of the point of view, not the other way around.

And it requires the honesty to acknowledge what you’re not.

Trying to appeal to everyone is the fast track to resonating with no one. Firms that are clearest about their focus – the kinds of work they do best, the clients they’re built for – tend to attract more of exactly that work, not less.

Practical consequences

When positioning is vague, everything downstream gets harder

Your pitch has to work harder to justify the fee. New business conversations spend too long on credentials or reassurance – not enough on the actual challenge. Proposals get written around process rather than thinking, because there’s no clear point of view to anchor them. At its worst, the firm ends up competing on price or relationship rather than on the quality of its thinking.

Get the positioning right – and the voice follows. Not because you’ve briefed better copy. Because now you know what you’re trying to say.

Proximity is a problem. When you’re inside a firm, the category language becomes wallpaper. You stop noticing that ‘practical, flexible solutions aligned to your business goals’ sounds like everyone else, because everyone around you says it too.

Getting clear on what makes you different – genuinely different – usually requires someone external. Someone who can see the water you’re swimming in.

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