If you ask professional service providers what sets them apart from others in their field the answer you'll get about 80% of the time runs something along the lines of…

“It's our service.”

Or “we're more client focused”. Or “we treat our customers better”.

The problem is, everyone says that.

Do you really think your service is that much better than everyone else's and that they're just lying about it?

I know you have testimonials and feedback from clients saying how great your service is.

So do your competitors.

And even if your level of service was streets ahead of your competitors, it's hard to prove it. Your clients never really know until they experience it.

Your primary differentiation needs to be more tangible.

Promise a higher level of results than anyone else. Or a service no one else delivers.

Offer additional benefits from your service no one else offers. Or get your clients the results they want but without the undesirable side effects they get when they get those results from anyone else.

Or use a proprietary method for getting results that's visibly different to how others do things (this is especially useful if your potential clients have tried other approaches before and they haven't worked out).

Sound difficult to figure out?

If they can do it for something as simple and commoditised as toothpaste, you can certainly do it.

Higher level of results: think Crest in the 1960s when it was the first toothpaste clinically proven to reduce decay.

Additional benefits: toothpaste that cleans your teeth and freshens your breath. Or whitens your teeth.

Without unwanted side-effects: non-abrasive brands.

Proprietary method: fluoride, baking soda, or these days hydroxylapatite. 

If they can give toothpaste differentiators you can surely to goodness come up with some for your own business that aren't just the generic “we give good service”.