Personal Impact

Speak Their Language

I speak fluent french (mum was a french & spanish teacher). I lived in the South of France for a few months after university and I’m proud of my skill and accent, so when I’m in France and I speak in french to a frenchman (and it’s almost always a frenchman) I’m a little pissed off when he answers me in English.  Maybe he’s trying to help, but it comes across as something else, like a slap in the face.

Have you ever wondered if our clients feel the same kind of frustration when we ignore their language and substitute our own in discussions, proposals and pitches?  I worked with a client who didn’t use the word ‘problem’ in their business.  They used the word ‘concern’, and they reacted badly to the ‘p’ word every time it came up.

A current client hates the phrase ‘Human Capital’, it makes him want to vomit, he says, and his word for the warm and lively things that work in his building is ‘people’.  He reacts very badly to any variation on the human capital, resources or personnel theme in verbal, printed or digital form.

People notice when you don’t speak their language and it reinforces your ‘foreigner’ status, is that the impression you want? Probably it isn’t.  Get good at noticing the words that your client uses and show you’re a  listening kind of business partner.

This is a part of my Fit, Focus & Flair model. To be great, a presentation must be a perfect FIT for the situation; the content must have complete FOCUS on it’s purpose and message; and it must have enough FLAIR to stand out on the day, and in our memories. Learn more about developing your Fit, Focus and Flair.

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