By Steve Adubato, PhD

"We are the industry leader in providing a total visibility in the value chain using multi-layered technology that is inter-operable across platforms...Our center-to-edge solution acts as a virtual e-Hub allowing proactive, agile responses throughout your ecosystem...Our best-of-breed collaborative commerce application is robust and highly scalable."

This is an actual combination sales pitch and vendor product press release from an e-commerce trade show. I dare you to tell me what exactly is being said by it. In a powerful editorial in 'Supply Chain E-Business', a popular trade journal, editor Thomas Foster argues that this type of pitch amounts to nothing more than "cyber-babble" that serves to confuse and turn-off the intended audience. In dissecting the sales pitch, Foster asks, "What exactly is collaborative commerce (CC)? How is supply-chain process management (SCPM) different from supply-chain performance management (SCPM)?" Finally, Foster asks, why is his industry so uniformly bad at explaining what their applications are supposed to accomplish? All great questions that cry out for answers but too often go ignored by those who practice such obfuscation (Okay, I would never use that word either, but I am just trying to prove a point. FYI, according to 'Webster', obfuscation is defined as 'to make obscure and/or confuse.').

It's amazing, In such an intensely competitive environment and with our economy on shaky ground, all professionals need to make a more direct, powerful and lasting connection with their market audience. They need to do everything possible to make the customer work as little as possible in connection with a business transaction. Our emphasis needs to be on simplification of our language and practical application of our product or service. Why, then, do so many professionals from the cyber world to government administrators, from car salesmen to financial analysts still employed on Wall Street, engage in this absurd communication approach filled with acronyms, insider jargon and frustratingly indirect and unclear language?

I have long argued that it is because these communicators are largely clueless as to how they are being received or not received by their audience and lack the skills and tools necessary to communicate more effectively. Further, these folks lack the empathy needed to imagine what it might be like to be on the other end of such a verbal onslaught. I still think I'm right. However, Tom Foster has offered a different explanation when it comes to his particular field; "I honestly think the whole cyber-babble thing is intentional. Many vendors simply do not want their marketing messages to be clear and understandable for marketing purposes. This may sound cynical, but consider the following: A vague product statement will force a prospect to ask for greater detail, which means there is an opportunity for a face-to-face sales pitch."

I don't buy it. Those who believe that they are going to entice or attract prospective clients and customers because of such techno-jargon are dead wrong. To prove my point, re-read the opening paragraph of this column and ask yourself if one of the first things you would do is get on the phone or e-mail those who put out this convoluted message and ask for a "face to face" meeting so they can decipher and decode it? Or, would you fall over laughing while reading it to your colleagues? Write to me, I'd love to know. Bottom line, the old adage "keep it simple" has never been more accurate than it is today.