Language Matters

What you say is what they hear and is what you get. So the revenue language you and your team use matters. It matters to the market, your clients and your partners, but mostly to your team.

Think about an operating room or the flight deck of your next cross-country flight or a courtroom and then ask what it would be like if they did not have a common language that supported their work effort.

“Revenue Generation” is no different. To have a highly efficient and successful team, you need a single version of language that efficiently supports the required outcomes.

Language creates your “True North.” Each team needs to be very clear about their “True North” just like an operating room needs a clear vision for “this” operation.

This post is talking about organizations under $500,000,000.00 and B2B. This conversation does apply to B2C and larger organizations, but that is not the focus today.

In the 21^st century, SMB (Small Medium Businesses) have advantages Enterprise size organizations don’t have and vice a versa.

SMBs advantages are based on things like “thought leadership,” Intellectual Property, speed, customer alignment, best practices, and agility. All of this is bundled in a working partnership with the customer.

This focus and this relationship is not accidental. SMB companies to survive and thrive must add value and receive value, because low price is the weapon of the Enterprise organization with its scale and large asset advantage.

“Revenue Science” tells us SMB companies need to do everything they can to create cultures of value both in perception and reality, which is why language matters.

Use the wrong language, and the perception will match the language until they see what you do. Use the wrong language, and your team is likely doing the wrong things so your value is questioned and questionable.

So let’s look at three common examples of the use of language (words or phrases). Twenty years ago these may not have made much difference, but today each of these helps or hurts SMB sell and receive value:

1. Close
2. Pitch
3. Joint SOW (Scope of Work)

We will consider these examples of language from your buyer’s frame of reference to determine:

1. If it is value adding language or a value robbing language
2. If it supports the SMB (Small Medium Business) in creating a long-term value adding partnership with the buyer
3. What the buyer is really hearing when this language is used that may differ from the intent of the seller, and what is the impact.

Close

1. This is robbing language – how often do people want to be closed? Often when someone tries to close us, we assume an adversarial posture and go for a win/lose outcome.
2. Does not support long-term value add. Most organizations avoid win-lose relationships in favor of win-win value adding partners based on transparency and trust.
3. When someone goes for a “close,” the buyer hears warning sirens and backs away to be sure they aren’t being taken advantage of – this slows down the close, decreasing possible margin and will even remove deals at least for now.

Pitch

1. This is robbing language – buyers don’t want to be “Pitched” any more than they want to be closed. Pitching is me telling you why you want to do business with me and limits transparent value added conversation. Pitches are about how cool the pitch is – not what is the buyer problem that needs to be solved. Pitches set the table for an adversarial posture and a win-lose outcome.
2. Does not support long-term value add. Most organizations avoid win-lose relationships in favor of win/win value adding partners based on transparent, problem solving conversations that build trust.
3. When someone goes for a “pitch,” the buyer hears warning sirens, backs away, stops listening, assumes you are like the last 4 pitches, and decides to buy on price so they won’t be taken advantage of. Both short-term and long-term this slows down the close, decreasing the margin, increasing protectionism and will even remove some deals at least for now.

Joint SOW

1. This is value adding language – buyers know you can’t add value or solve problems if you don’t understand how what you do will interface with what they need. You will decrease your value when you tell the buyer “trust me,” I know how to do this, before you have validated the outcomes the buyer needs compared to what you plan to deliver. When you require a joint SOW based on the combination of required business outcomes matched with the realities of the delivery environment, your thought leadership becomes clear, and the buyer becomes confident that they can trust you.
2. This joint SOW forms a bond between the two organizations based on a willingness to be transparent and a commitment that every engagement will be a win for both parties. For future opportunities, the transparency and trust normally result in sole source engagements. The buyer will engage faster and pay more because they have less risk. A shared plan, and a working relationship, combined with the knowledge of the buyer’s business goals and operational requirements make a Joint SOW high value to both partners.
3. When the buyer hears joint SOW, they realize “I better be serious because this is a lot of work,” “if I am serious, this is my best bet to get this done right,” “if I really want to do this, I must be willing to share with a partner,” “my team will actually have commit to this?” The impact will be those serious about and committed to solving this problem will go forward “if” you present them with a clear, solid joint SOW process. The close rate will be high, and since the buyer will know “exactly” what is in the joint SOW and believes it will get the required outcome, the margins will be high and this engagement will be a springboard to future high value engagements.

Language tells others (internal or external) who we are, what we know, what we plan to do, and how trustworthy we are. The language sets the prospect expectations, and once set, they are VERY hard to change.

All of your language (digital, written or spoken) needs to reflect your “True North” and the value you will deliver to the buyer. The buyer knows what your language says to them. You need to know what your language is saying and be sure it is what you intend.

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