When I first started as a presales consultant (yep, that was my official title back in the day), I was desperate to look knowledgeable. I thought that if I looked smart, I’d feel smart, and that confidence would rub off on my clients. Fresh out of university, armed with a business degree and a master’s in something vaguely connected to the software I was selling, I felt ready to take on the world.
There was just one problem: I barely had experience—and exactly one facial hair to prove it.
To make up for my lack of experience, I turned to what I knew best: buzzwords. If I sounded like I knew what I was talking about, maybe people would believe I actually did. So I loaded up on the most impressive-sounding jargon from university and threw it into every sentence. Just trying to sound like I belonged.
The result? Absolute gems like this:
“We use a multi-phase, stage-gate framework, integrating iterative validation loops to optimize the innovation pipeline, ensuring alignment with core KPIs and strategic market differentiators while accelerating time-to-market deliverables.”
In other words: What on Earth was I even saying?! 😂
Looking back, it was total nonsense. Not a single person knew what I meant—including me! I realized quickly that trying to sound like an academic was the opposite of what my clients wanted. They didn’t need fancy terms or buzzwords; they needed clear, practical answers that made their lives easier.
Over time, I found out what actually works: Explain it Like I’m 10 (or ELI10, if I’m feeling acronym-y). Building trust wasn’t about dazzling clients with complex language. It was about making the complex simple. Translating our fancy tech into language that even my grandma would understand.
Breaking down the complex stuff was the real way to build trust and credibility. So now, I focus on what matters most to my customers:
- Use their language – They don’t care about my frameworks or terminology.
- Focus on solutions – They just want to know if it will solve their problem.
- Ditch the jargon – The more buzzwords, the less believable I sound.
And guess what? It works. My clients don’t need to know about the intricate inner workings; they just need to see how it’ll make a real impact on their world.
