Have you been afflicted by “Jargonitis”? Are you sure? This article helps you to take another look at the words you choose to present yourself to your prospects…
What Did You Just Say?
By Deidre Hughey
Published by Women’s Edge Magazine
“Do you want an escrow account set up?”
“What news aggregator do you use?”
“Just click on the RSS feed.”
“What are you email delivery rates?”
“Are you CAN-SPAM compliant?”
“How many web hits do you get in a 24 hour period?”
“Your rear differential needs to be replaced.”
(Okay, so I made that one up…I know that there’s such a thing as a differential, but I have no clue if it’s in the rear or the front or if it can even be replaced!”)
JARGON AND LINGO
No matter what industry you are in, if you’ve been working in it long enough, the technical jargon and industry long become commonplace to you. You use lingo everyday when you speak to your colleagues…you think in jargon, you sleep with jargon and you eat your jargon. Unfortunately, because of your incestuous relationship with jargon, when you are with a potential client, it’s embedded in your dialect. I call this affliction “Jargonitis”.
There are a few crazy salespeople out there that like to have the “jargon” leverage (yes, I said it, if you think it’s “cool” that you have words that people don’t understand, you are crazy!).
But I’m not talking to them right now, they have other issues.
I want to talk with those of you that don’t realize that you have contracted this horrible disease and have allowed “Jargonitis” to separate you from your prospects. I’m here to tell you that there is a cure and its name is “feedback”.
VICTIM OF JARGONITIS
I’m ashamed to admit it, but I was a recent victim of this debilitating disease. I’m ashamed because as a sales trainer, it is my responsibility to break down sales components into bite-sized pieces that are easy to digest and assimilate.
However, in conjunction with Martin Brossman, I recently advertised for, and then held a seminar, called “Introduction to Podcasting”.
Stick with me and follow my line of thinking. Some of the following may sound familiar to you – just stick in your own personal jargon to this…
“This seminar will be great. Podcasting is an intimidating topic and with Martin’s help, we can teach people how to ease themselves into this technology.”
Great, right?
Yes! For people that knew what the heck “podcasting” was!
THE SOLUTION
This is where feedback is invaluable and I would love for you to learn from my mistake. The feedback that we received after the event was that the title of the seminar was intimidating and off-putting. Why? Simply stated, the word “podcasting” is the jargon of a web-based generation.
We would have been better off calling it “Broadcasting Audio on the Internet with Ease!” or “Get Your Audio Snippets on the Internet – Simple, Inexpensive and Business Building”.
At least I have the feedback now, but I could have saved myself energy and my prospective clients some confusion if I had sought feedback prior to releasing information into the world.
Don’t make my mistake. Sit with a trusted friend outside of your industry or knowledge base and see f you presentation, title and content are all user friendly. Use the feedback given to ensure that you rid yourself of the “Jargonitis” disease.
Think about it. If your prospects can’t comprehend the title of content, how can they possibly react or take the action that you would like for them to take? Get feedback from someone…you’ll be happier and your prospects will thank you for it!
As always, remember to sell ethically and be happy!
~
Deidre Hughey , partner at Dancing Elephants Achievement Group of the Carolinas, is a speaker, writer and sales trainer. Her mission is to teach business owners and salespeople how to be successful without compromising their ethical standards. For more information, please visit www.saleselephant.com or send an email to Deidre@deagsales.com .
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