Words to Never Use in an English Sales Pitch (and What to Say Instead)

Some words don't cause confusion, they cause quiet distrust. A buyer won't stop the call to correct you, but a jargon-heavy or overconfident word choice registers as a small red flag, and enough of them add up. Here's what to cut and what to say instead.

Hollow buzzwords

• "Synergy" → say what actually happens together: "when these two teams work off the same data."
• "Leverage" (as a verb) → just say "use": "use your existing CRM data" instead of "leverage your existing CRM data."
• "Disrupt" / "disruptive" → describe the actual change: "this replaces a process that used to take three days."
• "Best-in-class" → name the actual comparison: "the fastest of the three tools we tested."
• "Solution" (used constantly, for everything) → say what it actually is: "tool," "platform," "process," or just the specific thing it does.
• "Robust" → say what makes it reliable: "handles 10,000 records without slowing down," not "a robust platform."

Absolute claims that invite pushback

• "Always" / "never" → almost never true, and a smart buyer will find the exception. Say "in most cases" or give the actual percentage.
• "Guarantee" (used loosely) → only use it if you mean an actual contractual guarantee. Otherwise say "we typically see."
• "The best" → "the best" compared to what? Name the comparison or drop the claim.
• "Everyone" → "a lot of our customers" is both more honest and more believable.

False friends that trip up non-native speakers

• "Actually" does not mean "currently" in English, unlike "actuellement" (French) or "actualmente" (Spanish). Saying "we are actually working on that feature" sounds like you're correcting a misunderstanding, not describing an ongoing project. Say "currently" or "right now" instead.
• "Eventually" does not mean "possibly" or "maybe," unlike "éventuellement" (French). It means "in the end, after some time." Using it to mean "maybe" confuses a listener who hears a promise where you meant a possibility. Say "possibly" or "we might" instead.
• "Sensible" in English means "practical/reasonable," not "sensitive" as in French "sensible" or Spanish "sensible." If you mean emotionally sensitive, say "sensitive."
• "Assist" in English means "to help," not "to attend," unlike the French "assister à" or Spanish "asistir a." Don't say "I assisted the conference" when you mean "I attended the conference."
• "Demand" in English is much stronger and more aggressive than "demander" (French) or a neutral "pedir/preguntar" (Spanish), which just mean "to ask." Saying "I want to demand a question" sounds confrontational. Say "I'd like to ask" instead.

Filler that undercuts confidence

• "Maybe" / "I think" / "I guess" stacked up in one sentence read as uncertainty even if you're actually sure. Cut at least two of the three when they appear together.
• "Sorry to bother you" as an opener frames the whole call as an imposition before you've said anything of value. Replace with a direct, confident opener instead.
• "I don't know if this is relevant, but...", if you're saying it, decide first whether it's relevant. If it is, just say it.

The simple rule

When you're unsure whether a word is doing its job, replace it with the plainest, most common word available. Plain language in a sales pitch reads as confidence, not as a lack of sophistication. The buyers you're trying to impress are, in most cases, busy people who want the point made clearly, not people scoring you on vocabulary range.