TIUOA - The Indiscriminate Use of Acronyms

Revision as of 05:21, 14 August 2015

People today really like to use acronyms. I'd prefer to believe it is for the reason that we assume so quick we need to condense our speech to compensate, so we use acronyms to speed factors up; but I may be wrong. meaning are in particular rampant in Chat Rooms. If you have been to 1, you understand how hard it really is to understand what folks are saying should you don't know acronyms like LOL or BRB.

Fortunately--or unfortunately, as the case maybe--the technical professions are filled with them. Possibly it is simply because they are a lot easier to use or they're just plain more rapidly to say. Or, maybe it is simply because they help the particular person applying them establish his or her mental superiority. What ever the cause, our jobs are replete with them and they serve their purposes.

But technical acronyms have a downside too. These on the enterprise side of your ledger do not usually know what they imply. A single enterprise I worked for, had an remarkable collection of acronyms, which staff utilised freely, too freely. They became so ingrained in the organization's culture; they at times interfered with buyer communications, costing the corporation business enterprise.

If you are in sales, you'll want to be wary of acronyms. When they have their upsides, they will price you, if you're not careful when and how you use them.

Let's appear at a straightforward instance. A sales engineer delivering a presentation explains how a specific protocol performs and how the company's gear functions with regard to it. She or he understands these acronyms and leverages them in the presentation to speed communication. That is great, when the sales engineer is talking for the appropriate people today. If not, she or he could be cutting their personal throat.

In case your audience is composed of business decision-makers, odds are they may not know what the acronyms represent. Extra importantly, they may not care. Their major concern through the presentation is locating out irrespective of whether your item or service solves their dilemma, no matter if they knew they had 1 or not.

So what happens if you use a strange acronym? They are either going to ask you what it suggests or they are going to try to decipher it. If they ask for its meaning, you could sound clever telling them, but you have interrupted the presentation. If they determine to decipher it, they're going to stop paying attention whilst their processors decipher "the code." Either way, it really is not good.

Here's a different instance. Often, shoppers refrain from asking about an acronym because they are intimidated or embarrassed. They're not acquainted with it but given that they didn't ask about it and they are sitting within the presentation, you automatically assume they know what it implies. Communication is blocked. That's also not excellent either.

Then there is the question of ambiguity. In case you use an acronym and never explain its which means, your audience may not be clear about what you happen to be 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 items as well. Some of my favorites are

o Tax Lien Association

o Temporary Living Allowance

o Territorial Regional Authority

o Texas Lawyers Association

o Tadpole Liberation Army (my individual favorite)

and a lot of additional...

OK, I am exaggerating. Odds are these terms will not come up within a technical sales presentation. But I consider you get the concept. So how do you handle acronyms if you are producing a technical sales presentation?

Here are my guidelines...

If you are supplying a handout, create a section for acronyms.
If you're performing a PowerPoint presentation, explain the abbreviation once they come up.
Try gaging your audience's technical understanding. (In the event you believe your audience has a higher degree of technical expertise, keep away from explaining the acronym. You don't want to be seen as a babysitter explaining TCP/IP to a additional advanced audience.)
If it really is a company-related acronym or it represents some obscure market regular, really feel free to explain its meaning when it comes up.
Acronyms are a fact of life. They are here to keep and we are going to be applying them till we get started working with telepathy to communicate. Inside the imply time, be careful with acronyms when giving a technical sales presentation. They're able to price you.