Page 37 - Energy and Ideas Get More Business 2023 v 2 flip

MIND YOUR

language

This can be a significant differentiator

Use the customer's language.

1. Great communication is all about meeting the audience where they are.
2. A well-presented case achieves a great deal. A case that is also tailored to an
individual customer and their brand achieves still more.
3. Tailoring a case links back to the process of identifying needs, questioning techniques
and researching the customer.
4. You need to match your business case to the information obtained.
5. Make it obvious to the client that you are selecting what to say and how to say it just
for them – it is personalized for them – not a standard pitch you use for everyone.
6. Attribute your comments to them = ‘you said this had to be cost effective, we listened
so….’
7. Matching your tone and content to their situation provides rapport with the written
word and in conversation.
8. Avoid your own industry jargon and if the customer uses a lot of jargon too help them
translate it into simpler terms.

Next time you obtain a tender or a client brief go through word by word and
analyse it for style, culture, jargon, needs, objectives, motives - pull out all the
clues! Do the same with their website. Use this brand language within your
presentations and proposals – it is not about your jargon it is about entering
their world.