This week, I spoke with a few business owners who keep using words like unleash, abundance, clarity, and confidence without realizing what those words really say to their audience.
Those words mean a million different things to different people.
For example, “abundance” could mean:
- I’ll help you stop consuming products to feel happy
- Or, I’ll help you finally make enough money to quit stressing
- Or even, I’ll help you feel grateful for what you already have
Same word. Totally different meanings.
Or take “confidence”: does that mean you’ll help someone nail a presentation next week? Or finally feel okay about charging higher prices? Or something else?
If your audience isn’t crystal clear on what you actually mean, they won’t connect.
No matter how often you say these “power words.”
And I learned this the hard way last year:
I used to think sounding smart meant using fancy jargon like “productize,” “scale,” or “lead funnels.”
It felt right at the time, mainly because those words seemed unique and professional.
But you assumed right: I made zero sales.
Because my ideal clients never used those words. They weren’t speaking my language.
It was like an invisible wall between us. A wall that was stopping me from progressing towards my goals.
When I finally stopped trying to sound clever and just said what I meant in simple, clear words, I finally started having conversations that went on for weeks rather than a few days.
People understood me, so they wanted to hear more. Better yet, conversations didn't feel like a sales script I had to master.
So here’s a challenge for you:
Next time you want to use a “big” word, ask yourself: What do I really mean here?
Say that instead.
If you want, hit reply and tell me which words you’re using that might be confusing your audience.
Let’s figure out what you actually want to say.