A few years ago, my wife and I were in the market for a generator for our house. We had a sales representative from a local firm come over to assess our property. As it turned out, the representative and his father co-owned the company. While he was surveying the land to find a suitable spot for the generator, he asked me what I did for a living.

“I’m a business strategist,” I told him, “but a specific kind. I’m a differentiation expert. I help companies find the idea that’ll make them stand out as different and important when compared to their competitors.”

This piqued his interest, and he asked if he could pick my brain. He started a small side-business selling homegrown hops to local craft breweries and was struggling to find a way to make his product stand out.

When I first asked him why craft breweries would buy his hops, he said it was because they were the best tasting. I thought, “OK, that’s a claim. We can’t use that. Anyone can say that. Also, these breweries already have suppliers with good tasting hops. He’ll need a strong reason to get them to switch from their current sources.”

So, I asked him a different, simpler question: “Why did you start this business?”

His answer was the key. It began as a way to bond with his six-year-old daughter.

He lived on a large farm, and by the time he got home from work, there was little time to play or find projects they could do together. So, he set aside an acre of land to teach her about farming. They decided on hops, a crop that grows quickly and easily. They planted a hundred-foot row, and his daughter loved the experience, watering the plants with her little pink watering can. They planted a second row, and then a third. When it came time for the harvest, he brewed beer with the hops and gave it to his neighbors. Soon after, he and his wife had a second daughter, who also joined in, spending time with her father and older sister on the farm.

I asked him about the farm itself. He explained that it was a 300-acre property that had been in his family for three generations, passed down from his grandfather to his father, and now to him.

“There’s your differentiation,” I said.

I explained to him that many craft breweries are family-run businesses. Even those that aren’t often have a deep connection to their community and the art of brewing. His story would resonate with them. I laid out the narrative he should share:

‘I live on a 300-acre farm. It was my grandfather’s, then my father’s, and now it’s mine. About seven years ago, I put aside an acre to teach my young daughter, Madison, about farming and to have a way to bond with her. We decided to grow hops since they grow tall and quickly. We planted a hundred-foot row. Madison so loved working with me, watering the hops with her little pink watering can and watching them grow, that we planted a second row and a third. When we harvested the crop, I’d brew beer and give it to my neighbors. Madison doesn’t really understand what beer is, she’s never had a sip, but she loves growing the hops with her dad and visiting the neighbors, and giving them the beer as a gift. They so love it that I decided to start a business. My wife and I have a second daughter now, and this gives us a way to work together out in the elements and bond and learn about the family farm."

I advised him to share this story in his conversations with potential clients. I suggested he put it on a website with photos of his family on the farm. I also recommended he create a PDF of the story to send to breweries before meeting with them.

In a world of polished marketing messages and carefully crafted brand identities, the simple, unvarnished truth can be the most powerful differentiator of all. Your story, in its most authentic form, is your sale.