IT services among UK mid-market firms lacking distinction

Greater Else has published research showing that 94% of UK mid-market B2B service businesses fail to differentiate themselves meaningfully. The study identified IT services as one of the weakest-performing sectors.

The consultancy’s Shortlisted Pulse 2026 benchmark assessed 200 UK mid-market B2B service businesses across 10 sectors, including IT services, cybersecurity, accountancy and recruitment. It found that only 19 organisations demonstrated what it described as a distinctive market perspective or clear point of view.

IT services ranked among the three most homogenised industries in the research, alongside accountancy and recruitment. The sector scored poorly for distinctiveness and perspective, which Greater Else argues are important in helping firms secure a place on buyers’ shortlists.

The report outlines a pattern the consultancy calls the Mid-Market Plateau. Under this framework, many businesses have achieved awareness and credibility in their markets but have not built a strong enough identity to become a buyer’s preferred choice.

It also uses the term Recognition Trap to describe businesses that continue spending on digital marketing, brand campaigns and lead generation without first establishing a clear market position. In this view, firms can be well known yet still struggle to give buyers a compelling reason to choose them over similar rivals.

The findings suggest the problem is not a lack of technical knowledge or operational credibility. Instead, many companies have solid reputations but fail to explain clearly why they stand apart.

That issue appears particularly relevant in IT services, where suppliers often present similar claims and overlapping offers. This leaves firms at risk of becoming hard to distinguish in buyers’ minds, even when their underlying work is strong.

Chris Bennett, Strategy Director, at Greater Else, wrote the report. He said branding work often falls short commercially when it changes presentation without changing market position.

“Businesses often emerge from a rebrand looking better, but nothing material changes commercially. The leads don’t increase, the phone doesn’t ring any more often and campaigns struggle to gain traction because the brand work stops at the deliverable. The IT services market is full of technically excellent businesses, but too many sound identical. Buyers don’t remember capabilities lists or generic claims about innovation. They remember a clear point of view and a business that demonstrates genuine expertise. In a market increasingly shaped by AI and automation, distinctiveness has become a growth lever, not just a branding exercise,” Bennett said.

Buyer behaviour

Greater Else linked its conclusions to wider industry data on procurement behaviour. It cited research from Bain & Company and Google suggesting that 92% of buyers remain within their original shortlist and that 61% have already identified a preferred supplier before assessing the broader market.

Those figures point to the value of being remembered before a formal buying process begins. In that context, similar messaging or positioning may reduce a company’s chances of making the shortlist at all.

Geoff Bretherick, Creative Director, at Greater Else, said the issue becomes more acute when businesses expand marketing activity without addressing the core problem of sameness.

“Too many businesses still believe looking professional is enough. There have never been more channels available to reach buyers, but if your message and visual identity don’t clearly differentiate you, scaling your marketing simply amplifies the problem. Spend on reach before you’ve established what makes you memorable and you’re paying to be forgotten,” Bretherick said.

The benchmark findings were also reflected in interviews with 10 senior marketing leaders at growing UK mid-market organisations. Those interviews formed part of the research and added practical examples to the broader data.

One contributor was Kate Scammell-Anderson, Chief Marketing Officer, at Distinct Position.

“It wasn’t that people hadn’t heard of us. It was that they didn’t have a compelling reason to remember us,” Scammell-Anderson said.

Brand measurement

Greater Else said it created the benchmark because it sees a gap in how businesses assess brand performance. The consultancy argues that while other commercial functions are measured against clear business outcomes, brand is still often treated as subjective work rather than a contributor to growth.

The business recently rebranded from Fablr to Greater Else. It said the change reflected a clearer focus on mid-market B2B service businesses and on building long-term brand authority.

Philip Bennison, Co-founder, at Greater Else, said the rebrand and the benchmark were rooted in the same view of the market.

“Developing Shortlisted and transitioning to Greater Else has allowed us to be much clearer about the work we’ve been doing for nearly a decade. Across our teams in Manchester and Leeds we’ve consistently seen that businesses don’t struggle because they’re bad at what they do. They struggle because buyers can’t clearly articulate why they’re different,” Bennison said.

Greater Else pointed to work with client Right Fuel Card, where stronger brand authority, it said, contributed to a double-digit reduction in cost per acquisition for qualified leads. Bennett framed that as evidence that brand affects commercial performance rather than sitting apart from it.

“Brand isn’t a decorative exercise; it’s a commercial one. Businesses that consistently earn places on buyers’ shortlists are rarely those shouting the loudest – they’re the ones buyers already remember,” Bennett said.