Black Sales Journal

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



A news flash last week about our closest celestial body, the Moon, disclosed some secrets that many might not even know were secrets.  Despite common sayings and even albums (Pink Floyd ‘The Dark Side of the Moon, 1973 and many others) many don’t realize that the far side of the Moon, let’s call it the “Dark Side” had not generally been seen until last week.

The Moon does not revolve on an axis as the earth does, so we constantly see one side.  What does this have to do with sales? Being the consummate sales professional has much to do with how you conduct yourself with your employer, your co-workers, and your customers.  As a Black sales professional your personal life, well much of it, should be less visible than the ‘dark side of the Moon’ to many who you interact with in business.

You are developing your sales persona, and it is your ‘brand’ so it is your responsibility to manage what everyone sees and knows about you.  You will overcome obstacles in the process, but you don’t want anything that will make it tougher.  With a few exceptions you are in control of this, and you should exercise that control wisely.

Self-Inflicted Damage

This post is important as much of the damage regarding what is said or released is considered “self-inflicted” damage.

The topics for this ‘self-inflicted’ damage include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Politics
• Race Relations
• Religion
• Family
• Company Management
• Salary and benefits
• Interracial Relationships
• Sexual Relationships

Above all, remember a most important lesson.  As indicated in Black Sales Journal 10/27/11 – The 3 Unmentionables for the Black Sales Professional, avoid talking about the following;

• Politics
• Race Relations
• Religion

The Scene of the Crime

The forums and situations that you have utterances and conversations about these topics are many.  The people that you have these situations with can be the familiar to a network broadcast (social media).

Co-workers – Treat the people that you work with like they are people you work with.  They are not your best friends, and don’t need access to your life story, your relationships, and your ‘master plan to beat the man’.  What you say at the bar or club can come back to haunt you.  Some solid examples appear in the following posts:

• Friends, Co-Workers, and Vampires (Black Sales Journal 1/30/2012)
• Friends at Work (Black Sales Journal 5/23/2011)

Social Media – Wow! This one deserves more discussion than we can give here.  Do you need to post those pictures of you with the dreaded ‘red cup’?  Social media makes it easy to find something to criticize.  This is the broadcast that we spoke of earlier.  Your personal life is your business and you should recognize that there is no context specified on social media, it is just ‘out there’.

• Social Media – Avoiding the Pitfalls (Black Sales Journal 3/10/2011)

Customers – You never know what perceptions the customer has until you have the deepest of relationships.  That is only going to happen with a select number of customers.  This means that you still must project your brand.  For the Black sales professional I suggest that there is no casual day at a customer location that you need to participate in, wear your uniform (Your suit or business attire).  You are the professional.  There is no usage of slang and colloquial terms and foul language.

The customer will only know about your family and friends what you tell them.  Even if he tells you about his brother Rick, who smokes something that smells funny, that does not mean that you need to air your family’s dirty laundry.  You might read the item below to see the importance:

• Preference, Prejudice, and Your Customer, Black Sales Journal 12/27/2010

Management – Your manager needs to know you.  Actually, your manager needs to know the ‘you that you want him to know’.  This is “image management” in its finest sense.  Do you want management to know all of your past?  Do you want them to know the nature and depth of your intimate relationships?  Do you want them to know that you have relatives that are incarcerated?  I say why have those types of conversations and disclosures?  Now you may think that this does not happen, but it does.  Be careful because as I have said before “You cannot put toothpaste back in the tube”.

I say that your superiors should know the things that will shape your brand!  You are a hard worker…you worked your way through school.  You have perseverance and stick-to-it-ness…you were an athlete on scholarship.  You have a good personality and good values and can show it, stick to that type of disclosure.

No discussions on religion, race relations, and politics.  Don’t be baited.

Build a Brand for Yourself

We will cover this more in February and March, as it deserves it.  When you go this route, you use each of the above, social media, co-workers, management, and the customer to make it happen.  It is not an easy process, and it requires that each input and contact be carried out with forethought and consistency.

Always be the best!

Your comments are appreciated.