I’m at a car show at the Malibu Country Mart in California.
It’s 9:30 am, and the place is buzzing.
Vintage Corvettes, Porsches, and generations of BMW M’s fill the parking lot.
I feel like an outsider.
I’m not a car guy.
So I’m running into conversation cul-de-sacs.
Here’s an example:
Car guy: “What did you bring today?”
Me: “Um, I’m driving a Nissan; it’s a rental.”
Car guy walks away.
Like I said, conversation cul-de-sac.
However, my friend Tom speaks Porsche.
He’s an insider.
So Tom quickly builds rapport with someone who pulls up in a loud Porsche.
Here’s Tom:
“Sound like an Armytrix straight piped header-back Valvetronic exhaust system.”
Typical Porsche fanboying ensues.
Why am I talking about this?
Knowing your prospect’s lingo is a shortcut to building credibility and trust.
I’ll prove it to you.
Which CaptivateIQ salesperson sounds more credible?
Outsider
“We streamline commission statements.”
Insider
“I often see that determining payouts involves getting data out of Salesforce then hard-pasting Excel pages into Google Sheets to make adjustments one sheet at a time. How are you running and calculating commission statements today? Is it a manual process, or are you using data modeling to automate payouts?”
The insider, right?
Insider lingo shows prospects that you have expertise. That you’re one of them.
Here’s the path towards becoming an insider, even if you know nothing about your prospect’s industry.
Read case studies.
Attend insider webinars.
Listen to insider podcasts.
Read insider trade journals.
Listen to inbound discovery calls.
Mark Cuban calls this the knowledge advantage.
Start a doc called the Lingo Library. Capture the lingo customers use to describe the events and circumstances that caused them to switch.
Do this, and you’ll be better informed than most of your prospects.
You’ll be an insider too.
