Stop Hoping, Trying and Helping

Imagine you are checking into a hotel and the front desk clerks says, “We hope you enjoy your stay.” As if to really say, “We haven’t done anything special for you, even though we knew you’re staying with us. We just hope, by luck, you are satisfied.” Really! [Read more…]

7 Words to Remove From Your Sales Vocabulary

Will Rogers said, “You never have a second chance to make a first impression.”  Often salespeople can use one seemingly innocent word that immediately defines a conversation as a sales-pitch and triggers the defensive shields of suspicion in the prospect.  Words have meaning and we want to make sure the words we use as content accurately represent our desired intent.  Just as important, words hold different meanings and significance based on one’s past experiences.  If we use one of these “trigger” words, we could easily insult a prospect and devalue the service we provide.  Here are the 7 in no particular order: [Read more…]

Word Prohibition: The Results are IN!

The results are in from the discussion on “what words are you irritated to hear or avoid using when talking with others.”  There is a 4 way tie for first place.  The leaders are…Amazing, Like, Irregardless and Yes, but (when agreeing).

Thank you for your submissions.  And here are the all the words.  And the most active LinkedIn Groups are the ASTD–TCC chapter, Cretin-Derham Hall Alums and the Minnesota Sales Institute blog. [Read more…]

Word Prohibition – Introduction

Yesterday I alluded to a new discussion I’m proposing in my weekly email updates. I’m calling this discussion “Word Prohibition” as we submit and discuss ‘words’ that are used that have lost their meaning as they get overused, misused and abused.

Sometimes these are buzzwords that evolve and no longer define the original term. Perhaps these words have been diluted and devalued over time. As our communication becomes shorten to 140 characters, we may cheat words of their true meaning.

What words are you irritated to hear or avoid using when talking with others?