Random Tidbits

One of the most vexing aspects of traveling between mainland China and Hong Kong is the car travel: People in the former drive on the right side of the road; people in the latter drive on the left (a vestige of the British empire).

So to quell confusion at the border and, more importantly, to keep cars from smashing into each other, the Dutch firm NL Architects proposed a brilliant, simple solution, the Flipper bridge.

Unreal. And we wonder how bills can accumulate to thousands of pages.

So what should you do instead?

Be specific.
Many of the dead words weren't especially illustrative to begin with. As far as I know, a "solution" just means product and/or service, so the word doesn't add information anyway. Instead, be specific and inspire me.

• Instead of "easy" say "so straightforward, you won't need a manual."
• Instead of "inexpensive" say "just a dollar a day."
• Instead of "powerful" say "processes 6,253,427 requests daily."
• Instead of "disruptive" say "72% of our customers say they'll never go back to a normal email client."

Show, don't tell.
Some dead words are descriptive, but they don't paint a picture. "Powerful" sounds nice I suppose, but how does that change my life? Showing something in action is more evocative than describing it.

• Instead of saying it's fast, show a speed test (especially against competitors).
• Instead of saying it's easy, have a video demonstrating your tool solving someone's problem in 60 seconds flat.
• Instead of saying you have eager, responsive, intelligent tech support, put a "chat now" bar on every page of your website.
• Instead of a bullet-list of benefits, quote actual customers describing your impact on their lives.

Face it.
My favorite way to start a sales pitch is to make fun of typical sales pitches. For example:

I know you were hoping for a 22-slide PowerPoint deck with our mission statement and company history. I'm really sorry to disappoint! 'Cause I'm just going to start the demo and let you interrupt me with questions.

Or:

People claim that peer code review tools will do magic things like make your developers smarter or fix existing social problems with the team. Actually, if anything code review can magnify social issues! However, I do believe our tool will save you time and aggravation in these 4 specific ways .... so as we go through the demo, see if you agree.

Because you're willing to say what others won't, especially when we all know it's the truth, you've earned credibility. Now folks are more open to your claims — even those that are well-worn.

Own it.
You can still use an abused word if you totally, 100% own the concept.

You can claim "legendary customer service" if you back that with first-ring, human phone service, online chat from your home page, quick-response Twitter monitoring, and 15-minute turn-around time on tech support emails even at 3am on a Sunday. Be sure to communicate all that too, because if you lead with the dead phrase I'll leave before you get the chance to prove it.

Great article for marketers.

Pay close attention to #1 - probably the best advice from this entire infographic.