Don't Say That, Say This Instead
Persuasive Mastery: Communicate with Impact
Hey there, fellow sales warriors! Ready to upgrade your sales game from meh to magnificent? It's time to stop settling for bland, overused phrases that could be costing you deals. Your choice of words can make or break a conversation, so let's ditch the clichés and elevate your pitch with these savvy alternatives.
❌ PRICE → ✅ INVESTMENT
Don't scare off prospects by focusing on the cost. Do not say price, instead say Investment. The word price makes it sound like your product is going to be more of a cost than something that's going to have a return
Highlight the return on investment instead. It's not about spending money; it's about making a smart investment.
Highlight the return on investment instead. It's not about spending money; it's about making a smart investment.
❌ DECISION MAKER? → ✅ WHO'S INVOLVED?
Keep the conversation open-ended and focused on addressing pain points. Are you the decision maker? Instead say who's gonna feel left out if we don't include them in this discussion. Yikes! this is rude and close-ended and even when the person isn't the decision maker their natural instinct is going to be to lie and tell you they are anyway. You want engagement, not compliance.
❌ MAKE SENSE?→ ✅ HOW DOES THAT SOUND?
Does that make sense? Instead say how does that sound?
Does that make sense is another close-ended question. Most people are going to say yeah, makes sense. It's also kind of insulting to suggest that selling wouldn't make sense to the person you're talking to. So instead keep your questions open-ended and try and tie them back to the pain point that your customers face.
Does that make sense is another close-ended question. Most people are going to say yeah, makes sense. It's also kind of insulting to suggest that selling wouldn't make sense to the person you're talking to. So instead keep your questions open-ended and try and tie them back to the pain point that your customers face.
❌DISCOUNT?→ ✅ ADJUSTMENT!
Discount sounds cheap, like the dollar store. Use words like adjustment to make your changes sound more formal and open yourself up for trading.
Make negotiations feel like collaborative adjustments rather than devaluing your offering with discounts.
❌SIGN?→ ✅ ACTION!
Stop saying Sign, instead, say Action! Buyers are afraid of commitment and being tied into things. By using words like sign, you can sometimes put their back up against a wall and make them nervous. Encourage commitment without the pressure of signing on the dotted line. Actions speak louder than signatures.
❌CONTRACT?→ ✅ AGREEMENT!
Soften the commitment-phobia by framing agreements as collaborative understandings, not binding contracts. Instead say agreement. Exact same as sign. It can make people nervous when you start talking about commitments and contracts and terms. Agreement is again more gentle and less triggering.
Focused more than I focused so you can put things in the benefit of the person you're talking to rather than them thinking that's in your best benefit to do what you're asking.
❌I'D LOVE TO... → ✅ IT MAY BE HELPFUL!
Stop saying I'd love to.. instead say it may be helpful to you. No one cares what you would love to do to them. Shift the focus from what you want to what benefits your prospect. It's about them, not you.
❌SORRY... → ✅ THANKS!
Politeness is key, but avoid over-apologizing.
No offense to all the Canadians out there but people tend to apologize a lot more
than they need to and it makes you tend to sound low status rather than polite. So instead of saying sorry for the wait on this say thanks for your patience.
Appreciate their patience or understanding instead of dwelling on mistakes.
❌SAVES TIME & MONEY→ ✅ PROBLEM SOLVED!
Save you time and money, instead say solve specific challenge. Although saving time and money is often the old ultimate goal of businesses and probably the impacts your product is going to have so many people promise that things are going to save them time and money that has become slightly meaningless it's just noise. Be specific about the value you offer. Focus on solving problems rather than making vague promises.
❌HONESTLY... → ✅ JUST SOUND CONFIDENT!
Skip the unnecessary qualifiers and speak with conviction. Instead just sound confident. I don't know about you but I don't trust people who have to tell me when they're being honest by saying things like honestly you imply that what you were saying before wasn't honest, or everything you're about to say is a lie. Cut these words and instead work on your tone delivery so that people believe you without you having to tell them to believe you how are you instead ask something unique to them.
❌HOW ARE YOU? → ✅ BE UNIQUE!
How are you is one of the most overused and meaningless questions on the planet. Most people just respond: "Yeah! good how about you if you?" Want to make a good first impression come armed with you know one or two interesting unique questions that you can ask someone about themselves one of the best ways to get people to like you is to show interest in them, and then. Listen, one of the easiest things you can do in B2B sales is look them up on LinkedIn try and observe one or two interesting things about them and then ask them about that when you get this opportunity to talk to them. This one's a whole group.
❌TOUCHBASE? → ✅ GOAL FOLLOW UPS!
Touch base. Checking in. Circling back. Following up. Instead of these meaningless kind of bumps and nudges, make it about them and their goals in the context of a still deal. Maybe you're being ghosted; instead of saying these, try to make a deposit instead. Give people stuff that's helpful to them. That might be a gift, a piece of content that's going to help them do their job better, or tie your follow up back to their original goals.
❌UHM? AH? → ✅ CUT OUT FILLERS!
"I hope this finds you well". It's an email not a carrier pigeon. So cut this and get to the point. It's overdone and insincere. Eliminate unnecessary filler to strengthen your message and sound more assertive. Make sure you stay quiet after you ask an open-ended question and the prospect will eventually respond.
"Just," unless used in the context of law or timing, is meaningless filler that weakens your message and makes you sound less confident. Oops! See? It's filler that weakens your message and makes you sound less confident. See how much better that was? Try to cut out as many filler words as possible because you sound more informed when you use less filler.
❌I UNDERSTAND → ✅ SUMMARIZE!
I understand that instead of simply saying "I understand," it’s more effective to summarize what someone has told you in your own words. This shows empathy and demonstrates that you’ve really listened. It’s hard to dislike someone who is a great listener. Have I captured that correctly?
❌ I'M SURE YOU'RE BUSY → ✅ GET TO THE POINT!
I'm sure you're busy, but the truth is, everyone is busy. So, get to the point! Respect their time by being direct and concise. Show them you value their time.
❌GUARANTEED! → ✅ COMPELLING BUSINESS CASE!
Instead of guaranteeing something, focus on asking the right questions and making a compelling business case. Guarantees can come off as salesy, and truly valuable offerings don’t need them. Instead of offering guarantees, build trust with a solid business case and compelling value proposition.
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And there you have it—your toolkit for more impactful and persuasive sales conversations! Remember, it's not just what you say, but how you say it that makes all the difference. So, go ahead, kick those tired phrases to the curb and start closing deals like a pro! Happy selling! 🚀 Try and make as much of your language you
And there you have it—your toolkit for more impactful and persuasive sales conversations! Remember, it's not just what you say, but how you say it that makes all the difference. So, go ahead, kick those tired phrases to the curb and start closing deals like a pro! Happy selling! 🚀 Try and make as much of your language you