When buyers do not know what to call what you sell

3 days ago
3 min read

Introduction

Every industry develops a shorthand, and the shorthand becomes invisible to the people using it. A firm describes itself accurately in the terms its peers use, and the description is meaningless to the buyer, who would have described the same thing as "the thing where they come and sort out the damp".

The cost is invisible because nothing happens. Nobody complains that they could not understand your website; they simply go elsewhere and you never learn they were there. This is one of the few marketing problems that is both extremely common and free to fix, and the fix is research anyone can do in an afternoon.

1. When buyers do not know what to call what you sell, they cannot find or evaluate you

The double cost.

They cannot search for a term they do not know, and they cannot tell whether you do what they need when they land on you. One problem produces two losses at different stages.

2. Collect the words your customers actually used

The research, and it is quick.

Read your last thirty enquiries and write down exactly how each person described what they wanted. That list is your real vocabulary, and it will differ from your marketing more than you expect.

3. Ask the question at the start of calls

The ongoing collection.

"How would you describe what you are looking for?" answered in their words, recorded verbatim. This costs nothing and keeps the list current as language shifts.

4. Lead with their words and follow with yours

The structure that works.

Describe the problem and the outcome in the buyer's language, then name your term once. This gets you found and understood, and still teaches the correct word to those who want it.

5. Do not make them choose a category they do not recognise

The form and menu problem.

Navigation and enquiry forms built around your internal categories force a decision the buyer cannot make. An open field or a symptom-based option loses far fewer people.

6. Say what you do in one plain sentence

The test to apply.

Somebody outside your industry should understand your first sentence completely. If it requires a term they would not use, it is not doing its job, however precise it is.

7. Cover the wrong names too

The practical accommodation.

If people call it by an outdated term, a colloquial term, or something technically incorrect, use those words somewhere. Being findable by the wrong name is worth more than being precise and invisible.

8. Watch for the enquiry that starts with an apology

The diagnostic signal.

"I don't know if this is what you do, but…" is somebody telling you your description failed. Counting these gives you a rough measure of the problem's size.

9. Test the description on somebody outside the business

The check nobody does.

Read your first sentence to a friend in a different trade and ask them what you do. Their answer is what your market thinks, and the gap is usually instructive.

Be careful about writing so plainly that expert buyers doubt your competence. Some audiences want the technical term as evidence you know your field, which is an argument for leading with plain language and including the precise term rather than choosing one.

Conclusion

Use the words your buyers use, because they cannot search for or recognise a term they do not know.

Read thirty recent enquiries and record how people described what they wanted, keep collecting the phrasing at the start of calls, lead with their language and introduce your term afterwards, avoid forcing buyers to pick from your internal categories, make your first sentence understandable to an outsider, include the outdated and colloquial names as well, treat enquiries that begin with an apology as evidence of the problem, and test your description on somebody from a different trade.