May 28 2009
Speak the same language as your customer
Or how to stop sounding like a pompous ass
I had to shake my head. Apropos, paradigm, myopic, maligned, rapier like,fondled,terminological exactitude. What was he thinking? It would have been bad enough if he was speaking to a panel of executives. In this case the words were inappropriate. After all, he was an announcer calling a hockey game.
Don’t get me wrong. I believe having a large and diverse vocabulary to be an asset. I believe that it is part of what determines how far you go in life.
I just also know that you have to speak the same language as your audience
This is sales (or public speaking) 101. Don’t talk above or below your audiance. Only use a $10 word if it better describes the situation. Above all don’t make your listener need a dictionary to understand you!
RSS Feed
Sometimes this is known as consultant-speak, and it immediately and repeatedly put you at odds with your customers. What you want is to have your customers identify with you, not laugh at your attempts to sound important.
We too often use words like:
- prior, when we mean before
- actually, when it can be snipped out of the sentence without degrading the message
- event, when it adds nothing to our understanding of what happened
- impact, when we mean effect or consequence
Like they say in the west, save the peacockin’ for peacocks.
Clair
@Clair Schwan-People don’t understand that $10 words don’t make them sound smart. It just alienates your customer and makes your sound pretentious. Or to use your words…like a peacock!