Sales Tip: Words to Avoid During Your Sales Presentation

Needless to say, it's essential that sales professionals are comfortable in their roles, but when comfort turns into complacency language barriers can start to appear.

In sales training what to say to customers and how to say it is covered extensively. These keystone skills are the backbone of any sales career and every good salesperson knows that they need to be constantly sharpened in order to remain effective.

Communication is the sales expert's main tool. In negotiations a good communicator can make the difference between a non-sale and hearing the words "sold." When following that age-old advice "ABC -- Always Be Closing," the only way this is possible is by being able to freely and naturally talk to clients and customers.

Becoming too comfortable can be just as much of an issue as being too uptight, however, as complacent language has been found to be one of the biggest complaints among customers. Here are the most misused words in sales pitches which can turn-off clients in an instant.

Obviously
"Obviously" sounds vague at best and patronizing at worst. If you have to explain something, it probably wasn't obvious to the client. Dissect your pitch and find out where your explanations could be clearer. If you are using this word just to fill up your sentences, don't. It's a messy way to use your speech and off-putting to customers.

No problem at all
If you find yourself using this tired old phrase fairly often, it's probably because you feel obliged towards your customers for the job you are carrying out for them. Sales jobs can be challenging and some clients can demand more than others, but in their opinion, what you are doing for them is a part of your job. So naturally, it isn't (or shouldn't be) a problem. Try to limit this phrase to once a conversation, towards the end. Remember: The more you use it, the less genuine it sounds.

To be honest...
Either you're lying now or you were lying before. Your entire conversation should be genuine and pointing out that you're being honest only makes you sound dishonest. Honestly.

Erm
"Erm," "Umm" and "Ahh..." are all noises a client hates to hear. Filling up the spaces in your pitch with background thinking sounds appears unprofessional and can be very off-putting. The worst thing is the more you say it, the less you realize how prevalent it is in conversation. Practice confidence skills in telephone and 1-to-1 conversational situations and learn that short, snappy sentences and silent pauses sound so much better than a long thread of unbroken speech.

Basically
A lot of the things said in a sales pitch might be simple for the salesperson to understand, but especially in cold calling this might be the first time the customer or client has heard of anything like what you're proposing. "Basically" is often used wrongly in place of more helpful terms like "in other words" or "to put it another way" by well-meaning sales professionals. Unfortunately the word itself can sound like quite a put-down, especially when combined with a confident attitude and pushy manner. Your customers are not stupid, so don't treat them as such!

All of these words and phrases can easily be substituted and omitted from sales pitches and conversations, so there really is no excuse to be breaking the rules laid out here. All salespeople should be enthusiastic about providing the best services to their clients and this relationship starts from the very first phone call.

Cut these know-it-all phrases out and see what a difference it makes to your sales figures!