Quicksand Words & Phrases

You're in the desert. Sun's beating down. Wind blowing like a blast furnace. Nothing but sand all around. You take one step after another to get out of there. Each one just like the last

Except this one. You step. You sink. You're down to your waist instantly. Uh oh! Quicksand.

Like sand in the desert, we expect words and phrases to be the same each time. We expect them to work on customers like they did in the past.

However, some words and phrases, like quicksand, can sink us. Customers have heard them too many times, and are tired of un-kept promises.

When we sell services using quicksand words and phrases - we're sunk. Customers see or hear them and stop listening. We've lost their attention. They sink out of sight.

How do we avoid quicksand and keep customers' interest? That's our Revenue-IQ article this month.

Regards,

Chris Arlen, President, Service Performance

Quicksand Inside & Out

Washed-out words and tired-phrases can still have meaning. They can still work. It's where they're used that matters. Like day and night.

Inside, communicating to employees, these words and phrases can describe valuable business strategies. They work here.

But outside, with customers, washed-out words and tired-phrases are death by quicksand.

2 Reasons Quicksand Exists

#1 Unaware of Competitive Marketplace

Most contractors using quicksand don't know it. When putting marketing materials together we become inwardly focused. We ignore the marketplace. Forget other contractors are selling and marketing too. Using the same words.

If we don't look at competitors, we end up in a "me-too" fest and step into quicksand.

#2 Unaware of the Cost of Customer Perceptions

If we think making meaningless statements to customers is OK - we'll do it.

It's when we realize we've spent money to turn customers away - paid to send them to competitors. That's when we wake up.

Unfortunately, that can be years later. And once awake, we see the money we've wasted, the customers we've soured, and the effort it'll take to regain both. It's "pay now, or pay later".

Recognizing Quicksand

Here's the easy part. If it looks too familiar, or sounds phony - it's quicksand. Avoid it like the plague (with customers).

Examples of Quicksand

Below is a short list of quicksand words and phrases. For everything else, trust your instinct. You'll know what's quicksand or not.

"EXCEEDING EXPECTATIONS"

Defining expectations is tough enough - let alone meeting them. Remember they're services; intangible, changeable, invisible.

So customers are to believe contractors define expectations explicitly? Then go beyond meeting them, but exceed them?

I seriously doubt it. So do most customers. They see this claim, and you're lined up and shot. Alongside everyone else selling kitchen knives that never need sharpening.

"OUR SERVICE IS SECOND TO NONE"

What can I say? Sounds right out of the 1950s doesn't it? No matter how you dress it up, it's still a plaid-jacketed used car salesman. Deadly at all costs.

"CUSTOMER-FOCUSED"

"No, we're not customer-focused! We work hard to upset anyone gullible enough to be our customer."

Sarcastic obviously, but "customer-focused" is quicksand. Avoid it. Even though it may be true. Customers step into it and vanish from sight.

"HIGH QUALITY"

Who doesn't say this? How many contractors say they provide mediocre or low quality? High quality is a great internal business strategy. But quicksand as a marketing term. Step around it.

"PEOPLE ARE OUR MOST IMPORTANT ASSET"

Over use washes out meaning, along with past experiences that don't live up to promises. Together, they make "people = important asset" quicksand.

And that's unfortunate for contractors who live this credo with employees. Because it's admirable. And it's an excellent business strategy. Don't say it - just do it. Customers will know.

"SOLUTIONS PROVIDER"

I'm guilty - I use this one. Too bad too. Real solutions are what customers buy. Again, over usage and failure to deliver has made "solutions provider" a message sink hole. "Mam, please step away from the solutions provider".

It's Not Just Us

Quicksand doesn't just happen to contractors. MBA freaks and technology geeks are infected too. Check out Dilbert's Mission Statement Generator. Or, try playing Buzzword Bingo.

Summary

• Customers tune out & go sour on us when they step in our quicksand
• Quicksand wastes money spent on marketing materials
• Some quicksand is great as internal business strategies, but death with customers
• Know what's said in your marketplace
• Create & use quicksand-safe messages - we can help

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