27 Words To Avoid In Sales

Summary

This sales training video script advises against using 27 specific words that can hinder the sales process. It emphasizes the negative impact of phrases like 'to be honest with you,' 'trust me,' and 'sorry to bother you,' which can undermine credibility and rapport. Instead, the speaker encourages using words that empower the salesperson and build trust, such as 'own' and 'take this home with you.' The script also stresses the importance of not demeaning competitors and the value of offering solutions rather than apologies. It concludes by offering a paid consultation with the speaker's top students for further sales insights.

Takeaways

• 🗣️ Avoid using 'to be honest with you' as it implies previous dishonesty.
• 🙅‍♂️ Refrain from saying 'trust me' since actions should demonstrate trustworthiness.
• 🙅‍♀️ Do not apologize for your sales pitch with 'sorry to bother you'; it diminishes your position.
• ⏳ 'Just following up' can trigger resistance; focus on asking effective questions instead.
• 💸 People prefer the action of buying but dislike the word 'buy' due to its cost implications.
• 🏡 Use 'own' or 'take home with you' instead of 'buy' to create a more positive association.
• 📜 The word 'contract' can seem intimidating; consider using 'agreement' or 'paperwork'.
• 📞 Avoid stating the obvious like 'I haven't heard back from you' to prevent creating resistance.
• 🤝 Never put down competitors; instead, let prospects come to their own conclusions.
• 💬 Use casual and conversational language instead of cold, institutional terms like 'individual'.

Q & A

What is the main topic of the video script?

The main topic of the video script is about words to avoid in sales and closing scenarios to improve sales effectiveness.

Why should 'To be honest with you' be avoided in sales?

Using 'To be honest with you' implies that the salesperson has not been honest until that point, which can undermine trust and the credibility of the entire conversation.

What is the issue with using 'Trust me' in sales?

'Trust me' is problematic because it can come across as insincere and may make the prospect feel that they are being manipulated, rather than genuinely being assured of the product's value.

Why does the script suggest avoiding 'Sorry to bother you'?

Apologizing by saying 'Sorry to bother you' puts the salesperson in a lower status and can make the prospect feel that their time is being wasted, which is counterproductive to building a relationship.

What alternative words are suggested instead of 'Buy'?

Instead of 'Buy', the script suggests using words like 'Own' or 'Take this home with you', which are less transactional and more appealing to the prospect.

How does the script advise handling the word 'Contract' in sales?

The script advises against using 'Contract' due to its intimidating connotations. Instead, using 'Agreement' or 'Paperwork' is suggested to make the process feel less formal and more approachable.

What is the recommended approach when a prospect has not responded previously?

Instead of mentioning that you haven't heard back, the script recommends adding value and not making the prospect feel guilty or embarrassed, focusing on offering something of value in each interaction.

Why should 'Individual' be avoided in sales communication?

The term 'Individual' is considered cold and institutional, which can create distance in a sales conversation. Using more casual and conversational language is advised.

What is the script's stance on comparing oneself to competitors?

The script advises against putting down competitors and suggests that it's better to let the prospect come to their own conclusions about the superiority of your product or service.

What is the importance of not apologizing for what you sell?

Apologizing for what you sell can immediately put you at a lower status and undermine your product's value. It's important to believe in what you're offering and present it with confidence.

How does the script suggest following up with prospects?

Instead of using 'Just following up', which can trigger resistance, the script suggests asking more effective questions and finding out the real issues or objections the prospect might have.

Outlines

00:00

🚫 Avoiding Negative Sales Language

This paragraph discusses the importance of using positive and effective language in sales to avoid turning off potential customers. The speaker lists words and phrases to avoid, such as 'to be honest with you,' 'trust me,' and 'sorry to bother you,' explaining how these can undermine trust and create a negative impression. The speaker emphasizes the need for salespeople to be straightforward and confident, as actions speak louder than words, and to respect the prospect's time and decision-making power.

05:03

🛒 Encouraging Ownership and Positive Closing Language

The second paragraph focuses on the power of language in guiding customers towards making a purchase. The speaker advises against using the word 'buy' due to its association with spending money and instead suggests using words like 'own' or 'take home with you' to create a more positive and less resistant response. The speaker also recommends using terms like 'agreement' instead of 'contract' and 'paperwork' to make the closing process seem less intimidating. The goal is to make the prospect feel in control and excited about the purchase, not pressured or fearful.

10:05

🤝 Building Relationships and Avoiding Competitive Negativity

In the final paragraph, the speaker emphasizes the importance of maintaining a positive and respectful approach when dealing with prospects, even when they have not responded or converted in the past. The speaker advises against using phrases that might make the prospect feel guilty or embarrassed, such as 'I haven't heard back from you.' Instead, the speaker suggests adding value and offering something useful during each interaction. The speaker also warns against putting down competitors, suggesting that it's better to praise them and let the prospect come to their own conclusions. The paragraph concludes with an offer for viewers to book a time with one of the speaker's top students to learn more about effective sales techniques.

Keywords

💡Honesty

Honesty in the context of the video refers to the truthfulness and sincerity in communication, particularly in sales. The speaker advises against using phrases like 'to be honest with you' as they can imply that the speaker was not honest prior to that point. This undermines trust and can make the prospect feel that they are being deceived. The video emphasizes the importance of consistent honesty throughout the sales process.

💡Trust

Trust is a central concept in sales, as it is the foundation of any long-term business relationship. The video script warns against using the phrase 'trust me' because it can come off as insincere and may actually decrease trust. The speaker suggests that actions should build trust rather than relying on verbal assurances. Trust is earned through consistent behavior and reliability, not through explicit requests.

💡Apologetic Language

Apologetic language, such as 'sorry to bother you,' is highlighted as a phrase to avoid in sales. It positions the salesperson in a submissive role and can be perceived as insincere or unnecessary. The video suggests that salespeople should not apologize for their offerings but instead should confidently present the value they provide, as the interaction is a mutually beneficial exchange.

💡Follow-up

The term 'follow-up' is critiqued in the video for its potential to trigger negative associations, such as the salesperson trying to sell something again. The speaker recommends more direct and value-adding approaches when reconnecting with prospects. Effective follow-ups should focus on addressing the prospect's needs or providing additional relevant information rather than simply reminding them of a previous interaction.

💡Buying

The video discusses the word 'buy' as a trigger for resistance because it implies an expenditure or loss for the customer. Instead, the speaker suggests using words like 'own' or 'take home' to make the prospect feel more positive about the transaction. This shift in language can make the process feel more like gaining a valuable asset rather than parting with money.

💡Contract

The term 'contract' is described as intimidating and heavy, often associated with long, binding legal documents. The video recommends using less formal terms like 'agreement' or 'paperwork' to make the closing process feel less daunting and more collaborative. This language helps to reduce the psychological barriers that a prospect might have when finalizing a deal.

💡Individual

The word 'individual' is labeled as cold and institutional in the video. It lacks the personal touch that is often necessary in sales to build rapport and connection. The speaker encourages using more casual and conversational language to address prospects, which can help to create a warmer, more relatable interaction.

💡Competitor Dismissal

The video strongly advises against putting down competitors, as this can come across as unprofessional and biased. Instead of saying 'we are better than our competitor,' the speaker suggests praising competitors and focusing on understanding the prospect's needs. This approach allows the prospect to make an informed decision based on the salesperson's ability to solve their problems effectively.

💡Value Addition

Value addition is emphasized throughout the video as a critical strategy in sales. Rather than making prospects feel guilty or embarrassed for not responding, the speaker suggests consistently offering value through each interaction. This could be in the form of helpful information, solutions, or insights that are relevant to the prospect's needs.

💡Closing Techniques

Closing techniques are the methods used to finalize a sale, and the video provides insights on how to improve these techniques. The speaker discusses the importance of using language that empowers the sales process, such as avoiding words that trigger resistance and instead using words that create a sense of partnership and progress.

Highlights

Avoid using 'to be honest with you' as it may imply dishonesty before.

Refrain from saying 'trust me' as it can come off as insincere.

Do not apologize by saying 'sorry to bother you'; it diminishes your position.

Instead of 'just following up,' ask direct and effective questions.

Replace 'buy' with 'own' or 'take home with you' to reduce resistance.

Use 'agreement' or 'paperwork' instead of 'contract' to reduce the feeling of obligation.

Avoid stating 'I haven't heard back from you' as it can create tension.

Always offer value in your interactions with prospects.

Eliminate 'individual' from your vocabulary for a warmer, more conversational tone.

Never put down competitors; instead, let prospects come to their own conclusions.

Use action-oriented language like 'move forward' instead of direct buying prompts.

Your actions should demonstrate trustworthiness, not just your words.

Believe in your product or service and do not apologize for its value.

When closing, aim to level the playing field in terms of status and power dynamics.

People prefer the action of buying but dislike the word 'buy' due to its cost implications.

Using 'we' instead of 'I' can make your offer feel more inclusive and less confrontational.

If a prospect hasn't responded, it's because they are not yet convinced or ready; respect their decision.

Praising competitors can set you apart and show confidence in your own offerings.

Always be prepared with a value-add proposition when reconnecting with prospects.

Transcripts

When it comes to sales, when it comes

to closing, there are words that you wanna use

to close, to sell more of your products and services.

And there are words that you absolutely want to avoid.

Today I wanna teach you something very, very practical.

I'm gonna teach you 27 words that you want

to avoid in sales.

Here we go.

Number one, to be honest with you.

Have you ever heard of that one before from a salesperson?

Comment below.

Just to be honest with you.

Right, this is the best price that we could give you.

To be honest with you or we never give this deal

to anybody else.

Now, what happens is right after usually

to be honest with you, what you are telling

the prospect is, well, all the conversation

you've had up to this point, it's a lie, right?

'Cause to be honest with you, it means what?

You have not been honest with me this whole time, right?

You've been lying to me, is this what it is?

Or how 'bout this one?

To be frank with you.

It's the same idea.

Oh, means that you have not been up front with me?

You have not been frank with me this whole time,

the last two hours, the last one hour,

or since I've known you, is that what this is?

Don't use that word.

Number two, trust me.

Have you ever heard of that one?

Just trust me on this.

Yeah, this is a great deal, just trust me, man.

Trust me.

Usually, when people have to say, oh, trust me,

do you trust them?

No, right?

It's like, yeah, I'm a Christian, just trust me.

It is such a bad word to use.

If you want someone to trust you

and if you're trustworthy, do you have

to tell people trust me?

No, because your action speaks louder than your words.

Your action would show through.

Your action would demonstrate if a prospect

or someone should trust you or not.

So don't use those words, don't use trust me.

Here's another one, sorry to bother you.

Sorry to bother you.

Then why the hell are you bothering me?

If you feel so sorry about it then just

don't bother me in the first place.

Sometimes I get these phone calls.

Oh, you know, sir, sorry to bother you.

Then don't call me, don't bother me.

Like, you hang up.

Why are you calling me in the first place?

Why are you bothering me in the first place?

Why are you wasting my time?

Before you do anything when it comes

to closing in sales, usually the prospect has the power.

The closer, the salesperson, doesn't have the power.

In order to close, in order to be more effective

as a closer, you wanna flip the table around, right?

There's always one party that has the higher

status than the other party.

You wanna level that up, right?

The minute you are apologizing, before you

say anything, before you even propose anything,

before you give them any solutions,

before you find out if you could help them

or not, oh, sorry to bother.

You see how that immediately puts you at a lower status.

You don't wanna do that.

So don't use sorry to bother you,

don't have to apologize for what you sell,

don't have to apologize what you can bring

to the table, don't have to apologize

if you gonna offer them something.

Why?

If you believe in what you do, don't apologize.

Your time as a closer is just as valuable as the prospect.

Just because they give you money,

just because they would transact with you,

doesn't mean that your time is not valuable.

People only buy from you because you could help

them solve a problem, that your product

or service could help them solve a problem.

That's it, right?

It's a value and money exchange.

You're not begging.

You don't need to be apologizing for anything.

Another one, just following up.

Now, as a salesperson have you ever used this before?

Are you guilty of using these words?

Sir, I'm just following up with you.

When we talked like three months ago,

we talked last year, I'm just following up.

The word follow up, now, you might think,

well, what's wrong with that, Dan?

I mean, a lot of people use it.

I use it all the time.

The problem is this.

Think about when someone says that to you.

I'm just following up with you.

The words follow up, it's been used for so long

by so many salespeople, automatically it triggers

a response that oh, you're trying to sell me something.

That's the problem.

Last time you didn't close me, you didn't sell me.

Now, this time you wanna sell me.

Just following up.

Oh, I don't have time for this, right?

Think about you.

When someone calls you to I wanna follow up with you.

Oh, my God, right?

No, don't use the word just following up.

Go directly, find out what the problem is.

You can ask better, more effective questions.

Go watch my other videos.

I'll put a link somewhere here.

Watch my other videos on sales and closing,

and you will see there's so many better ways to do this.

Here's another word, buy.

Buy.

See, people love to buy, they hate to be sold.

Even though they love to buy, but they don't like

the idea of buying because the word buy

means that oh, it's gonna cost me money, right?

Like, I have to spend money, right?

So we do love the action, the act of buying,

but the word itself triggers oh, when you have

to buy something I'm gonna spend money on it.

So don't use the word buy.

Do you wanna buy this now?

No.

Like, oh, like, the minute, even if you

kinda wanna buy it, but the word buy

just triggers, like, a lot of, like, uh, tension.

So instead what should you say?

Own.

Own.

Or take this home with you.

So imagine if I'm selling you this, hey,

do you wanna buy this?

I don't know.

Would you like to take this home with you?

Sure, right?

I wanna take this home with me.

Would you like to own this?

Oh, sure.

Would you like to take advantage of this?

Oh, sure.

Would you like to move forward?

Sure.

Who doesn't like to move forward, right?

You're moving forward in life.

Oh, would you like to buy this?

I don't know, let me think about it.

It triggers a lot of resistance.

It triggers fear.

So would you like to take this home with you?

Sure.

Like, if you're selling a car, would you like

to take this home with you?

Sure.

Would you like to buy this expensive luxury car?

No.

Would you like to sign a five-year lease

so you make payments every month?

No.

Or would you take this home with you?

Sure.

Simple, here's the key right there.

Now let's do the paperwork.

See how that works?

Another word, contract.

That's right, contract.

Now, when I say the word contract, what comes to mind?

Comment below.

Oh my God, I'm signing a contract.

It's like 20-page document, I'm signing my life away.

All right, it feels too serious, it's too heavy.

So instead of say hey, are you ready

to sign this contract with me?

Like, it's like, are you ready to sign your life away?

No.

Don't say contract.

Agreement.

You see, from contract, agreement.

Okay, yeah, we can agree on something.

Like, just agree.

That's okay.

Like, it feels less intimidating, it feels less pressure.

Or I like to use paperwork, right?

Instead of hey, would you like to sign this contract?

How 'bout we get the paperwork out of the way?

You see.

Oh, paperwork, yeah, do you like paperwork?

I don't like paperwork.

Let's get it out of the way.

Oh, awesome, let's do that.

What does that mean?

It means same thing, you're signing the contract,

you're signing the agreement.

But when you say it, let's get the paperwork

out of the way, oh, yeah, sure, let's get

the paperwork out of the way so we can focus

on what's important.

See the difference?

Another one, I haven't heard back from you.

I haven't heard back from you.

Now, it may sound so normal, and a lot of people use it.

I haven't heard back from you in sales, right?

But the thing is, when you ask that question

your prospect knows why you have not heard

from him or her.

Because they don't want you to contact them

or they don't wanna contact you.

They already know it.

Why do you say something they already know?

Yeah, I have not heard back from you.

Yeah, 'cause I've been avoiding your call

'cause I did not reply to your texts.

Of course I know, right?

Why do you bring that up?

Automatically it creates resistance between you

and the prospect.

So don't use that word.

When you contact your prospect, especially

the ones who have not converted in the past,

when you contact them, don't make them

feel guilty, don't embarrass them.

Instead, add value to what they do.

It goes beyond then in today's video,

but add value to what they do.

When you make a contact, when you do

a touch point, always offer something.

Always offer something.

Don't make them feel guilty.

Offer something, offer something.

And then when they are ready to do business

with you, they'll be like this person

has been stay in touch with me for a long time

and adding value.

Of course I wanna do business with this person.

It's a no-brainer now.

Another word that you wanna avoid and that is individual.

Individual.

Is it individual is a very cold, institutional word.

It's very, very cold.

Oh, I know you are a busy individual.

I know you're a very successful individual.

Do you talk to your friends that way?

Hey, do you, individual, do you wanna go watch

this movie together?

Do you talk to your wife this way, individual, right?

You don't do that.

So that's not how you talk to your friends.

That's not how you talk to the people that you care, right?

It's a institutional word, it's a very cold phrase.

Don't use it.

Use more casual, more conversational words.

So eliminate individual from your vocabulary.

Last few words you wanna avoid,

and that is we are better than fill in the blank.

We are better than our competitor.

We are better than ABC company, right?

We are better than him, we're better than her.

No, never ever put down your competitor

because the minute you do that, you may think

well, we are better.

We provide better service, we provide better product.

Even though that might be true,

even that's a fact, you don't want to say it

because your prospect is thinking oh, of course

you'll say that because you want my sale.

You want to close this sale, you wanna make

that commission.

Even though it is true, you don't wanna say it.

You want your prospect to come to their own

conclusions that it is true.

So never put down competitor.

If anything, I would always praise the competitor.

I do the opposite.

When someone tells me, well, you know,

what makes you better than ABC competitor?

I always reply, I never say, oh, we are better than them.

We've been in business longer,

we have more experience, we have better people,

we have better quality.

Never ever say that.

I would say okay, ABC, they're good people.

Have you ever talked to them?

Okay, and how do you like them?

So what's stopping you from going with them?

You see, I don't have to put them down.

There's a reason why the prospect

is on the phone with you, even up to this point.

It means he or she has not made the decision.

That's why they're on the phone with you.

Otherwise they would've gone with them already.

They have not made a decision, they have

not pulled a trigger, it means that they

are still looking.

You are there on the phone with them,

so don't need to put down competitors.

Your prospect is thinking.

All you need to do is to demonstrate

that you understand their problems

and you can solve their problems better

than whoever your competitors are.

Don't need to tell it, don't need to say it.

Ask questions and find out.

Those are the 27 words you want to avoid

in sales or any closing scenario.

If you want to learn and understand

the exact words that you actually want to use

in sales or closing, click the link below

and book a time with one of my top students,

one of my graduates, one of my closers,

so they can answer any questions that you might have.

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