The "say this, not that" table that fixes most copy problems.

Most copy problems get fixed by one small edit: replace the vague line with a specific one. That is the whole trick behind a "say this, not that" table. You put the tired sentence on the left, the plain and specific version on the right, and you rewrite your website against it.

I use this table with almost every client. It is not clever. It is a checklist for the ear. When a business owner reads their homepage out loud and it sounds like every competitor, the fix is rarely a new logo or a new tagline. The fix is trading empty phrases for concrete ones — a date, a price, a number, a promise you can keep.

Why does most small business copy sound the same?

Most small business copy sounds the same because it borrows the same safe phrases instead of saying anything specific. "Quality service you can trust." "Your partner in success." "We go above and beyond." These sentences pass through a reader without leaving a mark. They could belong to a plumber, a dentist, or an accountant, which means they belong to no one.

The cause is fear. Specific claims feel risky. If you say "we answer the phone in person, every time," you have to actually do it. Vague claims feel safe because no one can check them. So owners reach for the safe words, and the safe words are the exact words their competitors reached for.

That sameness is a positioning problem before it is a writing problem. If you have not decided who you are for and what you do better, your copy has nothing to be specific about. We cover that gap in positioning, not branding: the difference that decides everything. Read that first if your "say this" column keeps coming out blank.

What does a "say this, not that" table actually look like?

A "say this, not that" table pairs a weak line you would normally write with the specific line you should write instead. The left column is the reflex. The right column is the rewrite. Here are the pairs I hand to clients most often.

• Not: "We deliver world-class results." Say: "Revenue from search went up 42% in six months."
• Not: "Fast turnaround." Say: "We reply to new inquiries within four business hours."
• Not: "Affordable pricing." Say: "Cleanings start at $129. No membership required."
• Not: "We treat every client like family." Say: "You get the same attorney from first call to closing."
• Not: "Serving the community for years." Say: "We have handled estate plans in San Diego County since 2009."
• Not: "Cutting-edge technology." Say: "Same-day X-rays. Results before you leave the chair."
• Not: "Tailored solutions for your needs." Say: "We start with a 30-minute call, then send a written scope with a fixed price."
• Not: "Passionate about your success." Say: "If we cannot tie the work to revenue, we do not bill for it."

See the pattern. Every line on the right has something a reader can picture or verify. A time. A dollar amount. A named person. A date. The left column asks for trust. The right column earns it.

How do you build your own version?

You build your own table by collecting every vague sentence on your website and forcing each one to name a fact. Open your homepage, your about page, and your top service page. Copy every sentence that could belong to a competitor into the left column. That is your "not that" list, and it is usually longer than you expect.

Then work the right column one row at a time. For each weak line, ask a single question: what is the specific version of this claim? "We are reliable" becomes "we show up in the two-hour window we promised, or the visit is free." "Experienced team" becomes "our lead technician has 14 years on commercial HVAC." If you cannot make a claim specific, you have found something worth fixing in the business, not just the copy.

Watch for three traps while you fill the table. The first is the adjective pile — "trusted, reliable, professional service." Cut all three and state one fact. The second is the hedge — "we strive to provide." You either do it or you do not. The third is the borrowed slogan. If you have heard a phrase on a competitor's site, it cannot make you sound different from them.

The pairs that survive this process become your voice guide. Keep the table in a shared doc. Every new page, email, and ad gets checked against it before it ships.

Why does the specific line win more clients?

The specific line wins because it does the reader's work for them. A prospect comparing three dental practices is trying to decide, fast, and every vague site gives them nothing to decide on. The site that says "cleanings start at $129, evening appointments Tuesday and Thursday, and we file your insurance for you" has already answered the questions the other two forced the reader to email about.

Specificity also builds trust in a way adjectives cannot. When you name a price, you signal you are not hiding one. When you name a person, you signal a real human handles the work. When you name a number, you signal you measure what you do. Readers register these signals even when they do not consciously notice them.

Dr. Julia Souvorova saw this directly. We stripped the borrowed "compassionate, comprehensive care" language off her pages and replaced it with plain statements about what a first visit looks like, what it costs, and who she treats. Inquiries went up because prospects could finally tell whether she was the right fit before they picked up the phone. You can read the details in Dr. Julia Souvorova.

There is a search benefit too. Specific copy tends to include the actual words people type — service names, neighborhoods, prices, conditions. Vague copy uses abstract words no one searches. So the specific line reads better for a human and ranks better for the query at the same time.

Where does the table break down?

The table breaks down when you use it to decorate a business that has not decided what it stands for. A "say this, not that" swap makes a clear position sharper. It cannot invent a position out of nothing. If your right column keeps filling with facts that are true of every competitor — "licensed, insured, local" — the table is telling you the real work is upstream.

That upstream work is positioning. You have to decide who you serve best, what you refuse to do, and why someone would choose you over the practice down the street. Most owners skip this and go straight to word-smithing, which is why so many statements come out identical. We break down that failure in why most small business positioning statements sound identical. If your table feels flat, that post explains the missing step.

One more limit worth naming. The table cannot make a false claim safe. "We answer in four hours" is a great line only if you answer in four hours. Specific copy raises the stakes on purpose. Every claim on the right column becomes a promise the business has to keep. That is the point. It is also the reason some owners resist it.

A quick checklist before you publish

Before any page goes live, run it through five checks that come straight from the table logic. This is the last pass I do on client copy, and it catches the sentences that slipped through.

1. Read every sentence and ask: could my closest competitor put their name on this? If yes, rewrite it.
2. Count the adjectives. If a sentence has three stacked adjectives and no fact, cut the adjectives and add one fact.
3. Find every promise. Confirm the business can actually keep each one. If it cannot, change the promise, not the wording.
4. Look for a number, a name, or a price in the first screen of the page. If there is none, add one.
5. Read the page out loud. If you sound like a brochure, you have more table work to do.

This is slow the first time and fast after that. Once your table exists, most sentences fix themselves because you already decided how you talk. That decision — how you sound, what you claim, what you refuse to say — is the core of the voice and positioning work we do inside Brand Building & Startup Roadmaps. The table is the small, boring tool that makes the big decision stick on every page.

Copy problems look like writing problems. Most of them are decision problems wearing a writing costume. The "say this, not that" table forces the decisions into the open, one row at a time, until your website says something only you could say. Foundations first. Then the words come easy.