How many times have you heard a sales or marketing team tell you their solution is less than the best? Has anyone ever claimed to be below industry standard, or poor value?
Of course not--these negative statements would be ridiculous. I also think that claiming to be "best of breed," the "industry standard" or "best value" is equally ridiculous. These phrases have no meaning exactly because no one would ever claim the opposite.
Consider "best of breed." This idea was borrowed from dog conformation competitions. What it means in the context of dog shows is that the winner is judged to be closest to the standard or perfect specimen of that breed. The dog is not deemed to be perfect--just better in terms of the standard than all the other dogs there on that day.
Is this the message you want to send your audiences of prospects and customers? "We're close to perfect and we're better than the others who showed up." I don't think so.
My other argument against these common claims is that they show you are lazy. You are relying on pat phrases--cliches, really--instead of devoting the time and effort to describing what your solution is all about. And your audience hears these short cuts and wonders what short cuts you will take if you were to work for them?
If you want to impress your audiences, talk about your products and services in terms of solving their problems and helping them achieve their goals. Make of list of the audience's needs and goals. Make a list of how your products and services meet what's on their list. Talk about that in real language and ask for the business in terms of their future.
You'll never need to default to meaningless slogans again. Unless you're selling puppies!
Total agreement.
I'm so sick of meaningless industry buzzword phrases!
Some specificity would work well.
Imagine, for example, Michael Phelps lamely declaring,
"I'm a world class athlete!"
Oh, it's true, all right. But the specificity of telling a story around his Olympic wins is far more engaging and compelling.
Posted by: Laura Bergells | September 18, 2009 at 06:19 PM