TIUOA - The Indiscriminate Use of Acronyms

Persons enjoy to work with acronyms. I'd like to consider it is because we assume so fast we need to have to condense our speech to compensate, so we use acronyms to speed items up; but I might be incorrect. abbreviation are specially rampant in Chat Rooms. If you have been to one, you realize how really hard it is actually to understand what individuals are saying should you do not know acronyms like LOL or BRB.

Fortunately--or regrettably, because the case maybe--the technical professions are full of them. Possibly it really is mainly because they are less difficult to make use of or they are just plain more rapidly to say. Or, perhaps it's because they enable the person using them establish his or her mental superiority. Whatever the explanation, our jobs are replete with them and they serve their purposes.

But technical acronyms possess a downside also. These around the business enterprise side of the ledger never constantly know what they mean. 1 corporation I worked for, had an amazing collection of acronyms, which workers applied freely, too freely. They became so ingrained within the organization's culture; they sometimes interfered with consumer communications, costing the business small business.

If you are in sales, you should be wary of acronyms. Whilst they have their upsides, they are able to cost you, if you're not cautious when and how you use them.

Let's appear at a uncomplicated example. A sales engineer delivering a presentation explains how a certain protocol operates and how the company's gear functions with regard to it. He or she understands these acronyms and leverages them within the presentation to speed communication. That's good, when the sales engineer is speaking to the proper people. If not, he or she could possibly be cutting his or her personal throat.

In case your audience is composed of company decision-makers, chances are they might not know what the acronyms represent. Additional importantly, they may not care. Their most important concern through the presentation is getting out whether or not your item or service solves their challenge, no matter if they knew they had one particular or not.

So what takes place if you use a strange acronym? They are either going to ask you what it signifies or they're going to try and decipher it. If they ask for its meaning, you could possibly sound smart telling them, but you have interrupted the presentation. If they choose to decipher it, they are going to cease paying attention whilst their processors decipher "the code." Either way, it is not superior.

Here's a different example. Often, customers refrain from asking about an acronym simply because they are intimidated or embarrassed. They're not familiar with it but since they did not ask about it and they're sitting inside the presentation, you automatically assume they know what it indicates. Communication is blocked. That's also not excellent either.

Then there's the query of ambiguity. When you use an acronym and never clarify its which means, your audience might not be clear about what you are saying.

Take the acronym "TLA." It could stand for Three-Letter Acronym or it could stand for Two-Letter Acronym. It could also stand for other points also. Some of my favorites are

o Tax Lien Association

o Short-term Living Allowance

o Territorial Nearby Authority

o Texas Lawyers Association

o Tadpole Liberation Army (my private favorite)

and many far more...

OK, I am exaggerating. Odds are these terms will not come up within a technical sales presentation. But I assume you get the idea. So how do you manage acronyms if you are making a technical sales presentation?

Listed here are my strategies...

If you're giving a handout, make a section for acronyms.
If you are doing a PowerPoint presentation, explain the acronym once they come up.
Try gaging your audience's technical expertise. (If you think your audience includes a high level of technical expertise, keep away from explaining the acronym. You do not want to be observed as a babysitter explaining TCP/IP to a a lot more sophisticated audience.)
If it is a company-related acronym or it represents some obscure business common, really feel free to explain its which means when it comes up.
Acronyms are a reality of life. They're right here to remain and we're going to become employing them until we start out applying telepathy to communicate. Inside the mean time, be cautious with acronyms when providing a technical sales presentation. They can price you.