| Blue-sky thinking - A thought process where solutions are considered without the usual constraints. E.g "Nothing we have tried seems to work, I think we need some blue-sky thinking on this one". |  |
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| Blow by Blow - This normally means to give an account of a situation in detail. E.g. "I've obviously been given half a story so can you give me a blow by blow account of what was actually said" |  |
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| Best Practices - Proven policies and procedures that have been identified as the most effective. |  |
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| Best in breed - Alleged or perceived superior quality among similar products offered by competing companies. Generally used as an excuse to explain a noticeable price difference. "We've always specialized in bringing products to the market that are best in breed." |  |
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| Bell ringer - An almost derogatory term for a Door-to-Door salesman |  |
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| Behind the eight ball - Taken from the pool game analogy of being in a difficult position to play the next shot. It is used in the following way : "We need to get that ready by the end of November or we're gonna find ourselves behind the eight ball in the new year" |  |
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| Beef up - To bolster, reinforce or make something stronger. E.g "We need to beef up our customer offering" |  |
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| Bean-counter - A somewhat derogatory term used to describe accountants E.g. "The bean counters are gonna need all the expenses receipts by the end of the week" |  |
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| Barnburner - Can be used to represent several scenarios such as an exciting situation, successful outcome or an impressive event. E.g "It turns out this month wasn't the barnburner we had hoped for" |  |
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| Dead wood - An employee that no longer contributes anything meaningful to an organization. There is normally some deadwood in every company. If you can't think of anyone who is deadwood where you work - It's you !. E.g "I think if we get rid of the deadwood we can save at least 120k". |  |
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| Banner Year - The best (record breaking) year in a company's history. E.g. "2011 has really been a banner year for new business" |  |
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| Bank roll - Means to fund or finance a project or activity. E.g. "We are just not able to bank roll another national marketing campaign at the moment". |  |
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| Bang for the buck - Usually used as a reference to how much value you get from money spent. E.g When comparing two cars company cars - "I like the BMW but I think the Audi gives you more bang for your buck". |  |
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| Bandwidth - Much like the technical explanation, this business term relates to 'Capacity'. It can be used to describe the physical or mental capacity of an individual, team or organisation. E.g. "I just don’t have the bandwidth for that project right now" or "The CS team wont have the bandwidth for that until next year" |  |
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| Ball park - Refers to a rough estimate and can be used in a couple of ways. 1. “Can you give me a ballpark figure on the total cost of those units “ 2. “It might not be to the pound but it's in the same ballpark right ?” |  |
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| Back door - Normally refers to something that is dishonest or unethical but can also refer to the giving of a favour. E.g "They went to school together and they are good mates so I reckon he got that deal through the back door" |  |
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| Arm chair general - A person of importance (in some regard) that despite speaking critically, has no real hands on experience. |  |
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| Al Desco - Refers to any meal that is eaten at a desk. E.g. "It's too cold to go out so I'm having my lunch 'Al Desco'. |  |
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| Air it out - To openly discuss an issue. E.g. "I hear several people are in conflict over that project. Let's get everyone together and air it out this afternoon". |  |
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| Adoption Process – Refers to the transition a customer makes between considering a product and becoming a consumer of the product. e.g. ”Due to the nature of this product there is likely to be a lengthy adoption process” |  |
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| Adhocracy – Refers to a business of minimal structure, where small project teams are assembled to address specific problems. e.g. Reacting to business needs on an adhoc basis |  |
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| Across the piece – Refers to the whole of an organisation, situation or project. e.g. ”This shouldn’t be just a departmental change, this needs to be rolled out across the piece”. |  |
| Allow me to set the scene. I have passed your shop a thousand times but have never needed your services. However, today is different and I am more than willing to give you my hard earned cash in exchange for solving my problem. |  |
All the company has to do is engage me once and we can complete our transaction. Seems pretty easy right ?.
Wrong !. I recently needed my suit jacket altered so I called a local tailors to see if they could help me out. Despite them being the only tailor I knew and being a short distance from my location, I still ended up taking my business elsewhere.
Here’s why :
No one answered my call : I tried calling seven times before someone finally picked up the phone. Are they busy, ignoring the phone or are they understaffed ?. These are not questions you want your potential customers to ask themselves.
Language barriers : When my call was answered the person on the other end of the line couldn’t speak very good English. They struggled to understand my question and I struggled to understand the response. If they can’t understand a simple question relating to the cost of their service, how will they understand what I need ?. More importantly can I trust them to do a good job on a garment that is quite expensive ?.
Tone: Always remember the importance of tone. If words are the gift then tone is the wrapping and guess what you see first. The person on the phone sounded rushed, uninterested and annoyed.
Hanging up too quickly : This is a pet peeve of mine so I understand if this sentiment isn’t shared by everyone. I really dislike it when someone hangs up while I'm still saying goodbye. Can you really not spare the extra half a second to complete the call politely ?. Does talking to a dial tone make me feel like a valued customer ?
This is an example of how a minute long phone call can lose your business money. In fact I calculated that if this company treated just 1 customer like me a day they are removing almost 6k a year from their bottom line.
Always remember that when a customer calls, their mind is like a blank canvas and they will paint a picture of your company based on what you convey. They will buy from you if they feel you understand their need, can solve their problem and can give them a positive customer experience.
So get into good habits early, treat every customer like royalty and turn your Start-up business into an organisation you can be proud of.
