My folks were down this weekend and they are always great for inspiration for a few blog posts. One that stood out for me was my mum telling me about her dissatisfaction with Sky (digital tv provider in the UK).

My mum rang to cancel her Sky subscription, partly  because it was not getting used, and partly because it then seemed rather expensive for what was being consumed. She had to run the gauntlet of questions for a few minutes to avoid the special deals only available to her if she continued to be a subscriber to get to a point where the contract was going to be terminated.

The You Are Too Expensive conversation

The young guy (YG) on the other end of the phone asked:

“I have to put down a reason for you canceling. What shall I put?”

Mum – “It’s too expensive”

(YG) “OK – I will put down that you can’t afford it”

Mum – “No, I can afford it, it’s just I don’t want to pay for it because in my view it’s too expensive”

(YG) – “OK i will put down you can’t afford it”

This went on for some time untill my mum agreed in exasperation and vowed never to go back!

The point is that you too may be using subtle word changes to change the meanings of your communications. And these might have a powerful impact, both positively or negatively on the way you are communicating to your intended clients.

As a start why not look at your sales process and see how that  might be read, understood, misunderstood and interpreted by your prospective clients and customers.

In that way, we might get to avoid the You Are Too Expensive conversation.