Speak the Language of Your Client

In B2B marketing, we spend enormous time crafting campaigns, choosing channels, optimizing funnels, yet too often we skip the single most important step: understanding the people we’re trying to reach in their own language.

I’ve seen communication strategies built on assumptions, agency output, or internal priorities, not on what actual clients express, feel, or value. If we want to be heard, it’s not enough to broadcast messages about ourselves. We must build rapport with our audience, genuinely and intentionally. This isn’t just a soft coaching principle. It’s grounded in research.

The Human Truth Behind Effective Communication

Behavioral science and buyer psychology confirm what good salespeople and coaches have always known: People buy based on emotions and felt understanding before logic.

Harvard Business School research shows that customers don’t always purchase based on rational product features, but on emotional resonance and the perception that the seller truly “gets” their problem.

Active listening builds trust faster than talking.

In psychology, active listening and rapport are proven to reduce barriers and increase openness. In sales, this translates directly to higher trust and better conversion. (Source: Journal of Consumer Research)

So why does this matter in B2B?

If your messaging, website, or campaigns talk about your agenda - your products, your features, your awards - without starting from their challenges, language, context, and priorities, you are not speaking to them. You are speaking at them.

Understand Before You Communicate

This is the same principle coaches use when working with clients:

• Active listening

• Understanding belief systems

• Mapping decision drivers

• Adapting to the client’s worldview

In business and sales, the principle is identical: You can only create an effective strategy when you’ve done your homework. And that homework is listening to your clients, not assuming what they think, but learning it directly from them.

That means:

• Interviews

• Conversations

• Smart surveys

• Contextual listening

• Real dialogue

Only then are you on the same page as your audience.

Credible Data Says It Too

According to Gartner:

“Buyers are 2.8X more likely to purchase from brands that communicate in the buyer’s own terms and address their specific priorities.”

(Source: Gartner B2B Buying Study)

Industry research shows that: Personalized content, based on buyer insight, drives significantly higher engagement and conversion than generic messages. (Source: Content Marketing Institute)

But personalization doesn’t happen by accident, it comes from insight-driven understanding.

Not All Understanding Needs Hours of Conversations

While deep conversations are ideal, smart surveys can be powerful, especially if you already have:

• a responsive audience

• existing customer relationships

• Basic trust established

A well-designed survey can reveal:

• the language people use to describe problems

• priorities and decision drivers

• the channels they use and trust

• the triggers that move them toward evaluation or purchase

But to be strategic, surveys must be:

intelligent, intentional, and linked to real outcomes.

A Practical System You Can Use

To help teams operationalize this, I’ve outlined a simple three-step Intelligence System:

1. Client Survey + Insight Capture: gather real client language, priorities, triggers, barriers

2. Strategy Blueprint Prompt: translate insights into strategic choices and messaging foundations

3. Execution & Messaging Plan: a content framework and communication path that actually resonates

This system helps you stop guessing and start speaking their language.

The core idea of marketing - solving someone’s problem disappears if we never focus on their problem language.

Great messaging isn’t about you; it’s about how well you reflect their world to them.

When you truly understand a client, you don’t just communicate, you connect.