There's a way of talking in this industry that's designed to make you nod along without understanding a word. It's everywhere — on the websites, in the pitches, in the emails that land in your inbox. We've decided not to do it. Here's the worst of it, and what we'd actually say instead.
The test we use is simple. If we couldn't say it to a mate in the pub without him laughing at us, we don't put it on the website. That rules out a lot.
Why the jargon exists at all
It's worth saying plainly why people reach for these words. Two reasons, usually.
The first is that they don't actually understand the thing themselves, so they hide behind big words and hope you won't ask. The second is that there's no real substance there, and a fog of important-sounding language is the only thing covering the gap. Either way, the jargon is doing a job — and the job is to stop you working out that nothing much is being said.
That's the honest reason we drop it. Plain English has nowhere to hide. If we tell you exactly what a thing does, in words you already know, you can judge for yourself whether it's worth your money. That's the point.
The translations
So here's the swap list. The phrase on the left is the one we've crossed out. The bit after it is what we'd actually say.
- "Leverage our solutions." → We'd say: "Use our stuff." Nobody leverages a kettle to make tea. You use it. And "solutions" almost always means the speaker hasn't decided what they're selling yet.
- "Synergy." → We'd say: "These two things work well together." If they do, just say so. If they don't, no amount of synergy will save them.
- "Cutting-edge, revolutionary Ai." → We'd say: "It works, and it's worth having." You don't care if it's cutting-edge. You care if it answers the phone and books the job. "Revolutionary" is what people say when there's no plain result to point at.
- "A seamless, end-to-end transformation." → We'd say: "We sort the whole thing, and it won't be a faff." "Seamless" is the word people use right before something has a great many seams.
- "Unlock your business's true potential." → We'd say: "Get a day a week of admin off your plate." One of those is a measurable thing that happens on a Tuesday. The other is a fortune-cookie.
- "It's a real game-changer." → We'd say: "It'll save you about four hours a week." A number you can check beats a phrase you can't, every single time.
You'll notice a pattern. The plain version is always shorter, always more specific, and always easier to argue with. That last bit matters. Jargon is slippery on purpose — you can't pin it down, so you can't hold anyone to it. A plain claim, you can.
If a sentence sounds impressive but you couldn't draw a picture of what it means, someone's hiding something — usually that there's nothing there.
The Ai words we're especially sick of
Our own corner of the world is the worst offender right now. Every other company has suddenly become an "Ai-powered, intelligent platform delivering transformative outcomes." Strip the words away and most of them have bolted a chatbot onto an old product and put the price up.
When we talk about what we build, we'll tell you the actual job it does. A voice agent answers your phone when you can't and takes the booking. An automation does the quote, the invoice, the chasing — the dull repeat work — on its own. That's it. No "harnessing the power of." No "paradigm." Just the thing, and what it does for you.
What we promise instead
Here's the deal we'll make with you. We'll explain everything the way you'd explain it to someone in the pub — short sentences, real words, no showing off. If you ask us a question, you'll get a straight answer, even when the straight answer is "you don't need this yet."
And if you ever catch us using one of these words on you, you have our permission to stop the meeting and ask what we actually mean. We won't have a good answer, because there isn't one. That's rather the whole point.
If you'd like to hear what we do explained without a single buzzword — about your business, in plain English — have a quick chat with us. No pitch, no pressure, and we promise not to leverage anything at you.