Whether you are in sales, marketing, or operations, Kim Gordon, author of Maximum Marketing, Minimum Dollars, offers up eight words that through overuse have become turnoffs when trying to convince others to "buy" your service, product or program.  Those words include (Entrepreneur magazine, July 2008):

• Care.  Overused by such fields as health care, insurance and financial services, customers have stopped paying attention.
• Solutions.  Credibility for this word has been lost since everyone promises a solution.  Since everyone things their problem is unique, it is hard for them to imagine how the answer can be delivered without a lot more information from the promiser.
• Results.  So overused, customers want you to prove it.
• Amazing.  Most of today's selling promises are not amazing because there truly are very few that can live up to the billing.  What are the details to substantiate the claim?
• Needs.  Everyone promises to meet a customer's needs, but offer no specifics.  Customers already expect you to meet their needs or they wouldn't be looking.
• Quality.  Customers expect quality; they believe quality should always be expected and given.
• Turnkey.  Usually this is met with skepticism mixed with a touch of fear over the prospective loss of control it suggests.  Without an established trust factor, and the time for that trust to be established, this is greated as an empty promise.
• #1.  Every organization claims to be number one, and the claim is offered with little or no proof.  the claim also suggests its about you and not the customer.

Are your marketing efforts struggling?  Examine your message for these pitfalls, and revitalize your message by changing as many of them as possible!  For more tips on Preparing for the Journey, review the first section in our second book of the Success Series, Earning Success, for more questions to ask your organization, and Action Plan items to strengthen your organization's message.  You can order it from our Home page.