Transform Your Sales Language: Strategies for Better Engagement

We hope this article “finds you well.” Did it “catch you at a good time”? If such phrases still prevail in your sales lexicon, there’s one crucial thing we should warn you about. This sales language is as stale as a hundred-year-old piece of bread. No wonder it repels potential customers from joining your sales pipeline. And it will even get more rotten, covered with ancient dust, if you don’t do anything with it or replace it altogether.

Let’s find out what else makes your sales language outdated and how you can rejuvenate it to sell like a pro and scale customer success.

4 Signs Your Sales Language Needs an Upgrade

Below are the markers you communicate in an old-fashioned and banal manner, which is why you struggle to generate leads and close sales.

You use hackneyed sales phrases.

These timeworn phrases might be aging your language of sales and making it sound stock-like and outdated:

• I hope this email finds you well
• Have I reached you at a good time?
• At your earliest convenience
• I am not trying to persuade you
• Best/Kind regards

Let’s talk about the first one. It is indeed overused in formal emails. But there are other variants to begin your sales email. For example, I understand you’re busy, so I’ll be as brief as possible. Or: Hi [Name], Happy [Day of the week]! Or: What a year! Time flies, and so does my email to your inbox.

And no more “Kind regards” or “Best regards”!

Alternatively, you could use email sign-offs like Best, Cheers, or Sincerely.

Your sentences are too vague.

Picture this: You’re on a B2B cold call and say, “We can bring you hundreds of clients!”

Such vagueness is a clear-cut sign of an outdated sales language. It totally erodes credibility and trust. And if set on repeat, it will eventually leave you with nothing.

The up-to-date sales language, on the contrary, is very precise and factual. In this context, you should thoroughly approach pre-call preparation and revise your B2B cold calling scripts to add concrete numbers based on your prospect research findings and capabilities.

Example:

“We can attract 600 new leads to your business within one month.”

You mislead your prospects.

Let’s look at the following statement by a SaaS sales representative:

“Our software integrates seamlessly with any platform. It will immediately boost your team’s productivity by 50%!”

Why is it misleading?

• Overgeneralization: Integration with any platform is unrealistic.
• Exaggeration: This percentage gives starry-eyed expectations, which may be unachievable, especially if the salesperson doesn’t know the prospect’s challenges and processes.

Mark Pierce, CEO at Wyoming Trust, also remarks even something as small as an exaggerated phrase in your sales vocabulary can lead you into a legal minefield. He says, “Misleading sales language can be classified as an unfair trade practice or false advertising prohibited by consumer protection laws. When consumers encounter it, they may keep documented copies or audio records of communication with sales reps and then file a complaint with regulatory bodies or a lawsuit for compensation.”

You treat your sales leads as animals.

Sounds rude, huh?

That’s because you either “hunt them down” or “fish them out” in sales team conversations. If you’re a sales manager, you should root out the habit of treating your prospects this way by your sales representatives and yourself. You don’t “net,” “capture,” or “bread” them (to fry later).

Your potential or existing customers are unique personalities with whom you interact and communicate to develop heartfelt connections and long-lasting relationships. Under the auspices of customer centricity, one of the current trends, you must instead focus on personal selling techniques and humanize your sales conversations inside your team and with your customers.

6 Expert Tips to Update Your Sales Language

Refresh your sales language for maximum impact with these strategies from experts and business leaders.

Modify your sales talk to resonate with your audience.

Let this strategy bestow upon you the glory of sales, wherefore you might need to embrace it.

Hey, watch your sales language! As you’ve seen above, you may still speak in archaisms or outdated wordings, while your sales audience just ROFLs at your DMs or emails.

Phil Strazzulla, Founder at SelectSoftware Reviews, shares his experience of targeting younger generations of recruiters and HR leaders. “As we majorly target Gen Z and Millennials, we often use memes and GIFs in communications. And, of course, where would our sales vocabulary be without HR slang!”

Example:

Phil Strazzulla gives a high five like this via email.

He also recommends using Internet slang when communicating with younger audiences. It is typically formed with abbreviations like these:

• LOL (Laughing out loud)
• IRL (In real life)
• IMHO (In my humble opinion)
• FYI (For your information)
• DM (Direct message)

If you want to renovate your LinkedIn sales language, start with the word “LinkedIn” itself and shorten it to “LI” to sound more up-to-date. For example, I’d love to connect here on LI!

Don’t try to sell—try to personalize.

The scenario probably unfolds this way.

You are so zealous to close the deal faster that your sales language turns into pressing and urgent buy-or-die terminology (it’s now or never, before it’s too late, etc.) At this rate, it acts as a push-away and appalls the client.

For Lankitha Wimalarathna, Founder & CEO of Hiveage, the contemporary language of sales is never about hard selling; it’s always about personalization. He notes, “It’s essential to segment your sales leads or clients and define what motivates them, what pain points they experience, and what they truly crave at the moment. Then, add a personal touch (e.g., use the name and the pronoun ‘you’) to your sales talk.”

In fact, personalized emails see a 29% boost in the open rate and 41% in the CTR compared to generic ones.

But no matter whether it’s email, call, or LinkedIn outreach—create a soft sales environment through masterful personalization.

Experiment with questions.

Do you ask your clients engaging yet appropriate questions to build rapport in sales?

Axel Lavergne, Founder at ReviewFlowz, argues that every sales rep should use relevant, talk-inviting questions in their sales language. “Ask a meaningful question to start the conversation rolling and see where it rolls into. Next time, formulate it another way and analyze what works more effectively in your sales process.”

He suggests experimenting with various question types to upgrade your sales language:

• Hey, can we talk/chat/discuss…?
• How would you feel in case ____?
• Have you ever found yourself ____?
• Would you believe it if I told you ____?
• What if ____?
• Did you know ____?

Why not rewrite the rules of your email opening lines and insert questions into them?

Example:

Here’s a follow-up email from Axel Lavergne after the sales lead did not respond, starting with: “Me again. Did you know you can tag each of your reviews?”

Give specifics.

We’ve covered some bits of this tactic when discussing one particular sign of outdated sales language—vagueness, which alerts the client about a generic sales email or call.
And yet, Tom Golubovich, Head of Marketing & Media Relations at Ninja Transfers, has more to say on this matter. He mentions, “To me, the modern sales language relies on the maxim: you either talk in numbers (weaving them into stories, if you wish) or don’t talk at all. And when you decide to talk, the key criterion here is to give 100% realistic, measurable data.”

For instance, the Ninja Transfers sales team does that by indicating the guaranteed two-day delivery and over 3,500 items.

Grab this list of specifics you can add to your sales language:

• Geographic data (e.g., 782 active clients in the region)
• Case studies with numeric results (e.g., The company saw a 14% reduction in operational costs within six months)
• Product/service usability metrics (e.g., Our app boasts a 99.9% uptime)
• Customer feedback data (e.g., We have gathered 1,000 five-star reviews).

Example:

Monday.com gives the percentage of users who started their Monday.com journey with a specific setup: 86% of monday.com users start here.

Push emotional hot buttons with emojis.

Although emojis have become mundane, they can significantly improve your sales lexicon when writing warm or cold emails.

Why exactly?

John Baek, Founder of JSB Digital Works, explains, “Emoji-powered sales language is universal, and you can use emojis in any case to sell your product or service. Thanks to their bright nature and visually captivating design compared to plain text, they draw attention instantly and provoke a higher emotional appeal and resonance.”

Here are some practical examples of using an emoji in the email subject line by different brands:

• Announcing a new feature (SocialBee): Our Threads integration is here!
• Encouraging feedback (Polywork): We want your feedback
• Offering a Black Friday deal (Plerdy): Still Time to Catch Our Black Friday Excitement and More!
• Inviting to a webinar (Universum): Last Chance! Join Our Exclusive Employer Branding Trends Webinar!

Go creative and be unexpected.

Bet your potential client would be surprised to get a “Happy Birthday” message when, in reality, it’s not their day of birth.

That’s actually one of Motivosity’s email subject lines for B2B sales. And here’s the email body with an immediate explanation: “Don’t worry—we know today isn’t your birthday!”

Logan Mallory, Vice President of Marketing at Motivosity, believes it’s creativity that keeps your sales language updated. “Forget about spray-and-pray automated messages or canned sentences without a hint of originality. Instead, try to constantly renew your sales vocabulary with extraordinary and unexpected phrases that can surprise and wow your audience.”

Isn’t it time to reinforce your sales pitches with a creative spark?

Last Word Before You Switch to Modernized Sales Language

So, your final step is to get rid of outdated sales phrases nobody wants to hear or read.

Mix up these tactics to refine your sales vocabulary and let SmartReach help you personalize your emails to the fullest. Give it a try today and see the results instantly.

Best regards,

Oops—

Cheers!