The mindset in B2B is often “we're a business selling to a business,” and so the assumption is that we need to “sound professional”.
The problem with that approach is that it's very easy to end up saying nothing meaningful. (Heck, your message may not even be easily understood.)
Let’s take a professional-sounding phrase like “improve operational efficiencies”:
We can abstractly think about what operational efficiency means. And we can consider the various ways operational efficiencies could improve. But at a granular level, “improve operational efficiencies” could be interpreted in many ways depending on the reader’s industry, business type and even their role. (A wide variety in interpretation is a problem.)
When you have a message with a really wide level of interpretation, there are two big risks: poor-fit leads land in your pipeline, or right-fit prospects don't convert because they don't see that you can solve their specific (and painful) problem.
For example, one of our clients recently shifted their messaging to focus on saying real, specific things. They tied their message to specific moments in the buyer's experience, as well as specific problems and specific outcomes. Their SDRs now send a simple one-to-two sentence email, written in very plain language: “we have customers who achieved this specific outcome and solved this specific problem. Would you like to see how they did it?” They’ve intentionally left very little to the reader’s imagination. And they’re hearing plenty of “yes” from right-fit prospects.
Of course, being specific takes confidence.
Because when you increase specificity, you also exclude people who might have self-qualified based on your broader messaging.
But when you're making the decision to be more specific based on actual research that shows most of your right-fit customers are buying your solution to solve that very specific problem? Well, you can be specific with confidence.
Now, a little (quick!) homework:
Go look at your homepage.
Are there phrases that are open to wide interpretation, where there'd be high variability between what you think it means and what your reader thinks it means? If so, your message isn’t specific enough.
Consider if vague messaging is the norm for your messaging (or if your homepage is the exception).
If vague messaging is your norm, you’re in dangerous territory. Try being more specific.
'Til next week,
Carolyn
How I can help you:
Boxcar helps marketing leaders at sales-led B2B tech companies fix their messaging. We start with why it's not working and end with a messaging strategy that actually drives pipeline.
I also work with a small number of clients to operationalize that strategy using AI, building tools their marketing team can actually use to create high-quality, on-brand outputs. (If you’re curious about this, mention it when you reach out.)
Interested in working together? Reach out by filling this form.
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