Overused Words Negatively Impact Sales Effectiveness

Nobody wants to buy your product, service or solution. Nor do they even want to hear about it - unless they're desperately in need of a solution.

So what do most sellers do to remedy this situation? They try to convince prospective customers just how wonderful their offering is. As I repeatedly mention in Selling to Big Companies, this self-serving pablum actually turns customers off.

Six months ago, David Meerman Scott, in partnership with Factiva, wrote The Gobbledygook Manifesto. This blog post analyzes business terms used in over 388,000 press releases sent in 2006. Like me, David  has a real aversion to companies who describe their offering as flexible, robust and world class.

When you use these types of terms, you may think you stand out from the crowd. Instead you sound just like everyone else - including all your competitors. You'll be shocked when you take a detailed look at his Gobbledygook Volume Analysis.

If you want to be successful in sales, use value propositions. Focus on the tangible business results your product or service offers. For more info on this topic, check out:

•  Making a Difference
•  Stop Sounding Like a Self-Serving Salesperson
•  Developing Strong Value Propositions

You might want to also check out David's follow-up article to his initial gobbledygook post on "Online viral thought leadership works - here is the proof."

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Jill Konrath | B2B Sales Strategist
Speaker | Author of Selling to Big Companies
Visit the Selling to Big Companies website; get a free
Sales Call Planning Guide when you sign up for ezine

Comments

[Shashank Garg]

I tend to agree that to become a successful company one tend to become solution provider rather than mere product provider - again quality matters not quantity

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