Use Their Language

When speaking with clients and prospects, it always helps to take a moment to check ourselves and ensure we’re speaking their language.  People rarely buy things they don’t understand. When we ask top performers what they do to ensure they’re speaking the language of their audience, here are a few tips they share:

• Use their actual words.  It’s common to summarize what you’ve heard from a client in either oral or written form.  In a recent meeting, a sales leader was explaining how critical it was for him to attract top talent and mentioned:  “I want to be the Yankees, so all the stars want to be on our team…” Instead of just mentioning in our summary that “recruiting is a key initiative”; we titled the document “Being the Yankees” to appeal to his exact vision – and he happens to be a New Yorker.  
• Focus on simple benefits.  The following are buying motives for all of us; we want to:  gain more, lose less, have things be easier, be protected, be proud and satisfied emotionally.  How can you connect your offering to one or a combination of these primary buying motives? Often, it makes sense to you - how your recommendation will lead to more upside and less risk because you think and talk about your offering all the time.  Your prospect doesn’t. How can you go out of your way to connect the dots from your offering to simple benefits for them?
• Anticipate their resistance proactively.  Tom Bernthal, CEO of Kelton (a leading strategic marketing consultancy), knows that because his firm works in many industries, he’s possibly going to face resistance from a potential client about a lack of industry specialization.  “Then I realized how we can flip this on its head.  Companies are filled with industry experience.  By definition, everyone who works there knows their business.  Consultants provide value by bringing external thinking.  We tell people we can provide new and different inspiration from things we’ve learned elsewhere that those in the industry are too close to see.  Ten years ago, we were hired by Pfizer.  As soon as the contract was signed, I asked why?  They said, it’s simple – ‘you guys launched the Nintendo Wii.  That’s the kind of fresh thinking we need here.’”  By considering potential resistance and then addressing it proactively, Tom positioned this potential weakness as a competitive strength.  And he never got the question, “but do you have industry experience?” 

We are each more effective when we speak their language.  Literally using their words, being benefit-oriented, and proactively addressing resistance are simple ways to make buying easier for our audiences.  Make this extra effort to speak their language, and crush the next quarter with even more success!