Slang and Profanity

Business relationships are special.  They are constantly fragile, but durable enough to ward off competition.  No matter what happens in your business relationship, and no matter how close they feel, don’t forget that you are always safer keeping your language on the formal side.  Yes…I am saying that you never know what might offend someone.  Sales professionals are notorious for dropping an ‘F-Bomb’ in the heat of a conversation.  Is it worth it?

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Business sales requires that a sales professional builds and cultivates relationships.  That position plays the role of relationship manager. All other relationships pivot on the relationship that the sales professional generates.  For those who have sold for years, you know all of this.  Much of this post is for our younger sales professionals.

As relationship manager, it is obvious that each relationship will be different, and will vary in depth.  That is the way relationships work in business and in personal life.  We all believe that we evaluate our relationships carefully, yet that evaluation comes with our own judgmental biases and perspectives.

The comfort of a relationship can lead us to speak and act in ways that are too casual.  I am speaking of the usage of slang and colloquial terms and phrases in your business relationships, as well as on the job in your own workplace.

Your Customer

If you are a Black sales professional, it is most likely that your customer and you coworkers come from a totally different background than you.  Life experiences buildperceptions (Remember the 3Ps, Perceptions, Preference,  Prejudice and Your Customer – Black Sales Journal 12/27) which one carries until they are ready to give them up.  The danger of slang in a business relationship is that you do know when a word or phrase validates a perception that a buyer might have.

This does not mean that you cannot say all slang, yet slang that is culturally significant when you are still in the relationship building stage could be unacceptable.  I will admit to my guilt in using culturally biased slang with some customers.  Usually it was long, well developed relationships where I exercised that ‘privilege’.  The length of some of those relationships was decades, and I was well familiar with their views, and the customer with mine.  I was lucky, and still probably should have been a little more antiseptic.

Is This a Big Issue?

I don’t think this is a big issue, yet for some of our emerging talent, it should be heard.  Forming relationships is hard work.  You need consistency and some personal protocol.  This is one of those things that must be remembered.

We all have a way of feeling comfort.  It can be a review of your relationship with a customer, or having the strength of a relationship confirmed by a new large order.  If you are wrong in your level of comfort you might seem crass, or you might spark something that chips away at a relationship.

Culturally biased slang includes language that in the Black community would not necessarily be offensive, yet we are not often selling to the Black community.  Even when we are, we want to have a solid idea of who our customer is, and what our boundaries are.  I suggest that it is easier to be in a business mode, and not take the risks unless you are certain of your customer and your relationship.

Your Work Environment

The work environment is a territory that you will know better than your customer.  Even in this territory, you should recognize the limitations that you should impose on yourself.  The workplace should always be considered “foreign” territory.  A familiar place for doing what you do to earn money, and make a career, yet a place that quite often has a set of rules that you have become comfortable with, even if your coworkers are barely comfortable with you.

None of this is bad at all.  Being at work is earning a living.  I had the fortune of working at a place that accepted my cultural differences and allowed me to grow.  All places don’t offer that haven, so your judgment is important here.

I was not the first Black sales professional that worked there, yet I was their first Black sales manager.  By the time I worked in that role, there were things that I said that I wish I could have taken back.  I learned on the job, and learned the hard way.  We all will not work for a solid and forgiving organization.

If you follow the same rules that you should use with customers at your job, you will never lose.  It will be easy to remember, and you will not turn anyone off.  Remember, taking back things you have uttered is like trying to “put toothpaste back in the tube.”

A Simple Example

Many years ago I was on a sales call with a sales professional who the customer told some difficult news, to which he uttered “That Sucks!” Think about that comment, and apply it to business relationships 12 years ago when it was even more sensitized.  The response from the customer was a face that I interpreted as being taken aback.

Now, quite frankly, there were many words that could have been used there, yet the one that came to mind did not sit well with the buyer, who was an older female.  When we left the call and were in the parking lot, I coached that this was not an appropriate comment.  I believe it was for laughs to a degree as there were several people in the room, yet that only means that there could have been several people offended (I don’t believe there were, yet our buyer appeared to be).

I believe that the sales rep took it to heart and appeared very professional in other calls.  I also believe that he apologized to the buyer who quickly stated that it “was fine.”  Fact is that it should not have been done.

How About Profanity?

I once had a manager who could use profanity, and no one ever seemed bothered by it.  Now, I don’t know if they were, as I was not polling, yet there were never any repercussions.  He was well accepted, and had a way about how he did it that desensitized.  I never felt I would have been that blessed.

The fact is that Black professionals should be careful about using profanity for more reasons than I could list in this journal.  It is easier to keep it clean, and be expressive and emphatic.  I believe there is no place for it in our day-to-day public image with the customer or employer.

Remember to always be the consummate professional.

We welcome your comments

There is nothing that is more gratifying than landing the big sale.  The ‘dance’ that happens between buyer and seller is seldom orchestrated to perfection, but is perfection is not necessary.  Impromptu changes in course and is the way this process works in reality.  You know the drill.  This post talks about the 6 points to keep in mind.

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Nothing in sales can be more exhilarating than landing the big account.   The definition of ‘big’ is left without specifics, as it is important to realize that a large sale in commercial real estate is much different than a large sale in office machines.  Both are big, in the context of the sale within their own genre.

Chasing and making the big sale is exhilarating and rewarding as I outline below, yet don’t forget your normal core business, as these sales can be elusive.  This activity requires patience, which is not as necessary in normal transactional sales.  It requires someone be more of a director than an actor.”

Maybe, a definition here would be a little more generic in the description.  A big sale is a sale which:

• Changes the game – a sale that changes your stature within the organization.  An attention getting act which gives recognition to the sales professional.
• Creates real income – A sale that provides substantial income for you and/or your organization.  Substantial income gains result from the sale.
• Changes expectations – An activity that changes your expectation (regarding your level of achievement) on your part and your organization’s part.

Landing a large account usually does not happen accidentally.  It is a planned activity which has probably brought you to the waterhole once before with no success.  It is the common result of opportunity meeting preparation.  It is a fleeting possibility for many sales professionals, as you need some luck, or heavenly intervention as well.

Some Important Points

There are some steps that you need to be prepared to take early on in your sales career that will help you when the time comes for you to perform on that stage.  These activities are great for the sale that is not career changing so it is worth it to start putting this “portfolio” together.

• Garner Credibility
• Show Credibility on yourself – Know how to make two sale at once
• Be the consummate professional
• Be a solid quarterback
• Know your boundaries
• Know how to accept assistance

Garner credibility for your company – you need to make sure that you have your proof sources in order.  You will need references on your company that show the organizations capabilities, dependability, and responsiveness.

Prepare to show credibility on yourself – I suggest you review the article Black Sales Journal 5/26/2011, The Black Sales Professional, Closing Two Sales at Once. The Black sales professional needs to be prepared to make both sales, and recognize that this is an activity which requires time to pull off.  Note the nuances posed in Black Sales Journal 3/31/2011, Credibility – The Goal of the Black Sales Professional.  Credibility plays a large role in your success.  If you are succeeding right now, it is because you have accomplished the credibility feat.

Be the consummate professional – No major account buyer worth his salt will do business with someone who does not look and act the part.  There are too many sales professionals out there looking for the sale.  In Black Sales Journal 3/7/2011, Be the Consummate Professional, we discussed how minding those particular P’s and Q’s leveled some playing fields, or at least got you in the game.

Be a solid quarterback – This one is a true requirement.  You need to be able to marshal your colleagues and others into a cohesive group.  See Black Sales Journal 4/18/2011, Mastering the Assisted Sales Call and you will see the role of the quarterback. Always remember, you will take the responsibility for an unsuccessful bid to get the account, so seize the moment early on to “get the ducks in a row.”

Know your boundaries and use your turf – Know your turf, and use all of it. Know what is the normal process, and then think outside the box.  Be creative and illustrative and give the buyer firm footing to make the case for your organization’s involvement.

Know how to accept assistance – Know when and how to ask for help from support staff and management.  You deserve help, and you will find that the cost of this help is often recognition and compliments.  The currency of ‘thank you’ is invaluable.

Above all be prepared to show value as well as the economic and operational advantages of being with your organization.  If you cannot figure out any, your chances are minimal in getting the organization to change.

A Practical Example

I once managed a sales professional who did an excellent proposal but our numbers were weak.  Having nothing else to compare to, the proposal showed the new pricing versus the last years incumbent’s numbers that were obtained at the time of the discussions about the dispositions of the quotes.

She illustrated with a graph, and some calculations to show how the difference in cost for our product versus the current product would increase their margin based on the number of units manufactured and sold.  In an industry where the operating margin was less than 4%, she calculated that changing to our product would save them .33% in their cost of goods sold.  This number would move their margin closer to 4.30% and clearly that would help them make their move to their strategic goal of 5% in a tight packaging industry.

Her figures were “rough”, yet illustrative enough that they bought the concept home.  They bought it, and never looked back.  Being illustrative is important.  Show that there is economic benefit, and that you and your organization is easy to do business with, and you can have a winner.

It might not be as clear for other customers, and other products, yet the concept is simple.  Put things in terms that show how you can save them money, or make them money.  They will see the light.

Your comments are welcome.