You Said What?

I took my 89-yr young mother to a Dermatologist a couple of weeks ago to have some suspicious sores on her face checked out– she calls them “brain spills”. Turns out they were relatively common, easily treated, pre-cancerous spots called actinic keratosis, but he would need to take a biopsy to confirm. Whew…what a relief.

Well, eventually it was a relief. I say “eventually” because he started explaining his diagnosis by saying to my mother – very quickly and in one breath I might add – “these lesions are probably not melanoma the deadliest kind of skin cancer but we’ll verify that it’s likely ‘acticated carrottopolis’ that can become cancer and kill you dead but I don’t think so but we’ll confirm by shoving a foot long needle in your face and suck out some tissue so the lab can tell us how many hours you have left.” Deep breath. “If it is ‘actionated cratiposis’ you have two incredibly painful options the first being ‘scotumizing’ cream that makes your face look like the rear end of a toad or we can do ‘photoflopatopilic’ therapy where we dye your skin and then have Darth Vader fry it with a laser.”

Now that’s not exactly what he said; but that’s what she heard. The words “melanoma”, “deadliest” and “biopsy” stuck to her mind like ugly on an ape and when he “talked” in medical terms my mom didn’t have a clue what he said. The poor dear didn’t even know what questions to ask; she sat there dumbfounded. Lucky for her I was there. By calling upon my years of business experience dealing with complex issues, and utilizing my education – Master’s Degree, Consumer & Industrial Psychology – I was able to come to her aid, rise to the occasion, step up to the plate, take the bull by the horns, look the doctor in the face and say, huh?...because I didn’t understand him either.

Like I said, eventually things turned out fine. But it got me thinking. It’s not just the medical profession that has a confusing language. Every business, be it wholesale, retail, medical, legal, communications, food service, landscaping, white collar, blue collar or horse collar…every business has their own language. And while unique terms and acronyms are generally helpful in the internal workings of an organization - they can aid clarity and sometimes produce a familial type bonding – you better leave them in the holster when you are communicating with a customer.  Nothing good can come from it.

Ever been around a cliquish group that jabbers in a jargon based on shared experiences of which you are not a part? How did you feel? Left out? Diminished? Probably didn’t feel all warm and fuzzy for them did you?  Now think, are you doing this to your customer?

When a salesperson, or even an ad, talks to me in a language I don’t understand it doesn’t impress me. And unlike the visit to my mom’s doctor, when I don’t understand what a company is trying to sell me I don’t say, “huh?” I say goodbye.

Speak to the customer using terms they will understand… Speak to the customer about what’s important to them – what’s important to you isn’t important…

Speak to the customer as if they were your boss – because they are… And always, speak “to” the customer – not “at” them.