We live in a world of nouns and adjectives. Our platforms are transparent, our audience segments are discrete. Most of us in the digital ad business generate enough nouns and adjectives to crush the spirit of the most ambitious high school English teacher. But when it comes to the verbs, we get really wimpy.
Rather than approaching sales situations with boldness and conviction, our verbs tiptoe in on little cat-feet. Ask a digital seller to describe the objective of a sales call with a would-be client and you won't hear disrupt, close or persuade. You'll hear him talk about educating, sharing our story or evangelizing. Is he there to sell something? Perish the thought! No, better to just try to be top of mind when they need us later.
You may think I'm a little obsessive at this point, but I can live with that. I know that words matter. And salespeople rarely act bigger on sales calls than the verbs they use to describe their actions.
If you're a manager, how are you going to hold your seller accountable around soft verbs? "So you went in to educate them? How'd that go? How much more educated are they now than they were last week?" And please tell me what the desired outcome is for evangelizing. I'm assuming it must have something to do with customers falling to the floor and speaking in tongues, which seems fairly rare.
If you're a seller, ask yourself an important question: "Why am I avoiding verbs that mean something?" Do you not talk about selling and persuading to avoid being rude or to avoid being accountable? It's gut check time; time for us each to own why we're in our jobs, in front of customers, in this business? We're there to change the outcome. To ask hard questions. To persuade. To secure commitment. To sell.
Next time you're talking with your manager or seller, listen to the words you're using. Get the verbs right and you'll be amazed how clear and compelling your sales picture becomes.
