It is natural for every profession to use a unique internal language (lingo) with words and acronyms that say little or nothing to the people outside the “inner” circle. This makes the professionals communicate faster and more effectively, all good with that.
It is also a fact that old habits die hard, and words (expressions) are often used without considering what they tell; that’s life too.
Let’s look a bit closer at how the internal B2B (Business-to-Business) sales profession’s language reflects the seller’s position on addressing clients.
The term “account” represents another company, the customer, the client (or a potential one), and the Account Manager, somebody looking after that company.
Internally, sales organizations speak about accounts or strategic accounts (often referred to as companies that spend more money with us than most others – the 80/20 rule).
Externally, speaking to people from those companies (accounts) or in marketing materials and media, we refer to them as customers or clients.
Why do we use two expressions if we mean the same in both cases? Is it just a professional habit, or is it about the true intent behind using those words?
How we see things determines how we behave and the results we get (see-do-get). Whether we use the words for what we see or see things based on the words we use – words matter.
What is the role of account managers? To manage the customers or clients by doing something to them, to close the deal? Or maybe to mutually explore to find the fit and enable customer’s decision that serves their best interest?
The mindset and behavioral differences enormously impact the trust between sellers and buyers and are probably one of the hardest to change. Unless addressed concisely across the whole company (all functions, customer-facing, and internal support teams) and practiced systematically.
Companies often search for technological magic bullets to become more customer or client-oriented, to develop trust and long-term relationships, and nothing is wrong with that.
Starting with the intent and paying attention to our words pays big dividends when we want to build long-lasting customer and client relationships.
What is your experience? Share your thoughts in the comments section below!