The Sales Snapshot: Words to Avoid in Your Sales Conversations

Effectively executing your sales conversations is the cornerstone to your success quarter after quarter. It may sound simple, but human behavior is heavily influenced by the words we use.

Knowing the right words to remember—and which ones to forget—can make the difference between a conversation that moves an opportunity forward and one that stops it in its tracks.

In this edition of The Sales Snapshot, we pulled together some great articles that focus on effective communication. We compiled them into a list of words to forget and ones to remember in your sales conversations.

Words to Forget:

BUT

“’But’ acts like a mental eraser and it buries what you’ve said before it,” according to Gwen Moran in this Fast Company article. Its use creates needless friction. If you say “but” a lot, it can create an adversarial situation. Read more about how to remove the word from your everyday speak—and what to replace it with—in the full article.

CAN’T

Think of “can’t” as an emergency brake, drawing conversation to a screeching halt. Instead, “replace ‘can’t’ with ‘can if’,” suggests Annabel Acton in this article for Mashable, Articulate the possible in your sales conversations.

BUZZWORDS

Every industry has its own jargon that insiders know and use behind the scenes. Use too many buzzwords, and the prospect “will assume you are on autopilot—or worse, not understanding what they’re saying,” according to Carolyn O’Hara in this Harvard Business Review article. She also gives some great writing tips in this article, many of which can be applied to your prospect emails.

UM and AH

You’ve heard this one before, but perhaps you never realized how much it’s undermining trust with your sales prospects. According to Jessica Stillman in Inc. Magazine, “people who ‘um’ and ‘ah’ a lot are assumed to not know what they’re talking about.” If you use these “filler” words too much, you could undermine your chances on making a great first impression, and earning trust with your prospect.

Words to Remember:

VALUE

When it comes down to it, buying decisions are made on the basis of the value that a service or product provides to the buyer. Aways put value at the center of your sales conversations. Align the value discussion with buyer needs, and you will close opportunities.

DIFFERENTIATION

Having a solid grasp of how your products, services and even your company are different and better than the competition creates the opportunity for you to show your buyer value. Make sure you are keeping differentiation at the forefront of the conversation by tying it to the positive business outcomes your prospect is looking to achieve.

“TED”

Remember, the acronym “TED” for an effective discovery conversation. “Tell me more about,” “Explain for me,” and “Describe for me” are open-ended statements that will help you uncover prospect pain points and their business impact.

PROOF

Proof points are one of the most effective components of the sales conversation, and they make your job as a seller a lot easier. Providing tangible points of reference on how your solution provides the results you promise strengthens your message. You can talk about how you are better than your competitors all day long, but putting evidence behind those claims helps your potential buyers see the positive business outcomes they can achieve through your solutions.

BECAUSE

A study published in Harvard Magazine revealed that the simple use of “because” phrases increases compliance by 60-90%, even when the reasoning doesn’t make sense. Think about how much more effective your sales conversations can be when you marry “because” to proof points and an overall value-based discussion.