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March 06, 2005

Old language - new language

This is something that is on my mind for a long time - the evolution of business language (I am not talking about political correctness!). I don't even have somewhere to link to, since I don't know who else has written about it before. So I would appreciate if someone would assist me with this.

I believe that the way how you express yourself is a reflection of your personality. Rough language like "push them out of the market" could mean that you have some very competitive feelings.

However, I also believe that markets are changing. Companies that compete in one segment with each other might team up with the same company in other markets - this is called co-eptition. Derived from competition and cooperation.

Over time, I have created a list of words that I don't like that much anymore as a terminology to describe customers or clients. I even despise some of the expressions. The list is not organised in any matter, and very much relates to the relation with a customer or client. Thus, it doesn't relate to competition.

Here is my list:

Old Speak vis-a-vis New Speak

Lead vis-a-vis Relationship
How often do you hear your manager saying - "hey, I have a new lead". Doesn't it sound bad? Doesn't it make your client or customer feel like an object?

Prospects vis-a-vis Relationship building
How do you feel if someone calls you a prospect?

Owning a client/ target group vis-a-vis Creating a partnership
Target? This always reminds me of shooting. Do you want to shoot your client down? Or, that you are "owned" by someone?

Closing a sale vis-a-vis Start a relation
As a client or a customer, I don't want to be owned. I am an individual who is looking for certain deals. And closing a sale sounds finite. But what you want to achieve is a relationship, not a one time sale, right

I sell to someone vis-a-vis We grow together
Similar - it is nice to know that someone takes a longterm view from the very first contact.

Pipeline management vis-a-vis Relationship building efforts
Similar to account management. Just sounds worse. Squeeze your client into a pipeline.

Benchmarking vis-a-vis Uniqueness/ At the edge
I have written about benchmarking before. A main result of benchmarking is that a company's uniqueness is lost. That all the products look similar and that the business world is getting boring.

Solution vis-a-vis Experience/ Co-creation
Every company that you talk to says the same. "We are offering unique solutions to our clients." Where is difference to other companies? Isn't it better to create something with your relation. Doesn't it sound better, already?

Looking at the bottomline vis-a-vis Looking at the client
Sure, it is important to understand where your cash comes from. But when companies only look at the bottomline, at the numbers, doesn't it make you, as a client, feel strange? Like, someone who only looks at you for the sake of numbers and cashflow and is not at all interested at you as a person or business?

Account management vis-a-vis Managing cooperation
Similar to target group or bottomline. I am not an account. I am not a cashcow. I am an individual entity, as a company or consumer.

Market research vis-a-vis Understand the individuals
Markets are fragmenting. Customers are flooded with information. Close your business if the closest you get to your customer is through data. Even focus groups don't bring it anymore, are easily manipulated, and don't give you the knowledge about the markets that you need.

May be it is weak, but than, it is new, different, and just a new effort to define my thinking. What do you think? Anything to add?

Posted by Andreas at March 6, 2005 02:16 PM

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Posted by: chasyss at March 6, 2005 07:46 PM

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