Outsource Issue 23 - (Page 98)

TOP TEN COMMUNICATING WITH PROSPECTS Jolie Newman launches our new “Top Ten” series by taking a look at how better communication can make a better business (with a little help from Humpty Dumpty…) Jolie Newman, ProEdit Solutions Jolie Newman is president of ProEdit Solutions, helping outsourcing service providers excel in their deal pursuit-related communications. Jolie has nearly 30 years of expertise in business-to-business public relations, marketing and communications; she is also a columnist for Outsource online. L 98 ●● ast summer I read a fascinating Wall Street Journal article entitled “Lost in Translation.” While the main thrust of the article was the extent to which language inﬂuences culture, the author used the nursery rhyme, “Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall…” as a stage-setter to demonstrate how much languages differ from one another. The author said, “In English, we have to mark the verb for tense…we say ‘sat’ rather than ‘sit.’ In Indonesian you need not (in fact, you can’t) change the verb to mark tense. In Russian, you would have to mark tense and also gender, changing the verb if Mrs. Humpty did the sitting…In Turkish, you would have to include in the verb how you acquired this information. For example, if you saw the chubby fellow on the wall with your own eyes, you’d use one form of the verb, but if you had simply read or heard about it, you’d use a different form.” What does this have to do with the outsourcing and offshoring industry? It’s a silly yet sage reminder that whether on their website, in sales presentations, collateral, bylined articles or RFP responses – even in e-mails and LinkedIn postings – service providers must use language and a communications style that matches that of their prospects to most effectively sell their solutions. The earliest known version of the Humpty Dumpty rhyme dates from 1803. www.outsourcemagazine.co.uk ● http://www.outsourcemagazine.co.uk

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Outsource Issue 23

Outsource Issue 23
Contents
News & Comment
IT Security
Ian Collard
More Than Just A Headcount
Call Centre Technology
Social Issues
Understanding Value
Cutting Through The Noise
All In The Genes?
It’s Time For Contact Centres To Get Socially Responsible
Right From The Start
All In The Game
Relationship Management Centres
NOA Roundup
Document Management
Digital Vision
Review Ructions
Provider Perspective
A New Reckoning?
Head-to-Head
The Music of Outsourcing
Accelerating Innovation
Labour Arbitrage
Top Ten Tips
The Legal View
HfS: New outsource Partner
Online Round-Up
Sourcebites
Inside Source
The Last Word

Outsource Issue 23