Mind your language

Competitors: Let’s start with language referring to your competitors. Clients are after a sophisticated, intelligent sale where you are out for their best interests. If you are referring to the client’s alternative solutions as ‘competitors’, and doing so in a negative derogatory tone, the message the client may pick up is that you care more about winning than obtaining the right solution for them.

Win: With your team, watch encouraging terms like ‘wins’ as opposed to both ‘doing the right thing’ and ‘making a profit’. I see reps sell all sorts of stuff just to get their bosses’ approval in striving for a ‘win’ despite it losing money with lack of higher purpose and reason in place. It’s as though they have lost the point of why a business exists. Drive home some commercial awareness to help with this. It’s about being financially stable and serving more people.

Expensive: Do not say it’s more expensive. No-one in your business should think that it’s expensive. After all, if your rep thinks it’s expensive the client certainly will! Instead focus on the value.

Issues: Avoid saying to your team ‘if you have any issues’ or words like ‘concerns, problems, worries’ you are basically predicting there is going to be a problem, concern or worry. Instead swap for ‘if you need any clarity’ let me know.

Difficult clients: There is no such thing as a difficult client. Implying such is detrimental and may cause the team to unconsciously generate bad vibes towards them. If you would like to learn more about why clients spend and how they decide to buy, study our website on Motivation and Buyer Behaviour.
Basically, no bad-mouthing of clients.

Positive language: Get the team ‘helping’ clients, discovering how we can help them further is a deeper, more intrinsic driver than ‘selling at’ someone. Not that selling is bad, it’s just that ‘helping’ drives towards more meaningful and deeper conversations which end up, organically, and consequentially, in a sale that benefits both parties.