Mind your (sales) language!

When we work with businesses to improve their sales, it doesn’t take long before we talk about business culture, “the way we do things around here…” is perhaps the simplest definition of this. Why is it important? Well, when “the way we do things around here” is a way that supports your sales activity, you can pretty well stand back and let it perform for you, that’s how important it is.

Developing a powerful sales culture takes time, and require focusing on the key drivers of it. For today, let me touch on just one of these. Language. The words that are commonly used, the jargon, the idioms, all underpin and support “the way we do things around here”, and when you start listening to it, you’ll begin to spot some common trends. Let me cut to the chase and give you a quick start to help your team become more orientated behind providing solutions, and making things easier for your buyers.

Here it is… Ban the pervasive expression “no problem” from your business. It’s lazy, sloppy language that presents your customer with a “no” and then a “problem” and will leave your customer with two negatives to remember your business by. I have worked with organisations where this expression echoes around the working environment and guess what, whenever I’m told it’s “no problem”, it usually is (for me, if not for them).

Replace it with “yes, we’d love to”, “of course, it’s easy”, “it’s my pleasure”, even “have a good day”. Run a competition with your team to see who can think up the best lines, those that are framed in the positive.

The benefits of achieving this? When you do, your business will leave a lasting impression with customers for it’s charm and good nature, and your team will become more solution orientated. And just imagine what that could do for your sales conversion rates.