Never Dumb It Down When Selling

Written by on January 16, 2018 / Communication

When it comes to language, never dumb it down when selling.

Have you ever found yourself altering your language because you think people won’t understand you?

Stop doing that.

Why?

Three reasons:

Reason One: When you dumb it down when selling, you appear patronizing.  If you obviously alter your vocabulary, people will feel insulted. That is not good if you’re looking to establish a relationship.

Reason Two:  When you dumb it down when selling, you are not being yourself.   People buy you. They buy into having a relationship with you. If you dumb it down when selling, people do not get a chance to see the “real you.”

Reason Three:  When you dumb it down you lose the opportunity to help people become smarter.  People like to be around smart people.  If you help people become smarter they will work with you.

Never dumb down your content for anyone.

Never dumb down your vocabulary.

I just finished a conference and one of the questions I got was from an attendee and she said that her web guy told her that she needs to write at a fourth to sixth grade level and you never dumb down your content. She’s intelligent. She’s got an advanced degree and her website is written at a high school senior level and even a collegiate level.

The web guy told her that the content was too advanced for her audience.

That’s crap.

Never ever, ever dumb down your content.

Elevate, your readers to match you. You should challenge your folks. Challenge your clients. Challenge your audience to match your level of thinking because the way you write, is the way you think.

Never dumb down your content, ever.