I recently picked up Anne Miller’s Metaphorically Selling. I’m really enjoying it and recommend it fully. But, I had a nit pick item come up for me that reminded me of a common client communication blunder.

Miller shares an attention getter she used in a presentation. How many squares do you see? Note: this image is scanned directly out of the book to make my point (I added the numbers).

Most see 16 or perhaps 17. But, this is a perception game. The goal is to encourage you to open your mind to ideas. When you consider different combinations of squares (sets of 4 and 9), you may be able to find upwards of 30.

But, assuming that the image was not distorted in printing, why not consider combinations of 6?

Because that would be a rectangle.

A square (at least to my understanding) is equally distant on all four sides. Which makes the following not squares.

In Miller’s sharing of the episode, there is no mention of any discussion about what defines a square. Her purpose was to share an example of a metaphor that reveals her audiences blind spots.

But, there I was for a moment or two. Point lost on me. Because I was distracted by rectangles masquerading as squares.

Common-nyms should so easy to spot

How often do you think you understand your clients, but you really don’t?

One of the causes of common misunderstandings is the use of terms which have different meanings for different people. I call these Common-nyms. What makes common-nyms so vexing is that by the use of a term that you have a strong rapport with, (i.e. “hands-on”), you can easily fall into the assumption that your client uses the term with the same meaning.

Example:

• Square: A square for me has four equally distant sides. My count is different from Miller’s.

Common-nyms you might find in your interaction with clients.

• Hands-on: A client might describe himself to you as “hands-on.” This might mean he is a micro-manager. This might mean that he needs to take an integrative approach. Your work needs to be completed in concert with other projects. This might mean that your client wants to work collaboratively with you.
• Agreement: This could be verbal, hand-shake, at-will, letter, or contract (using anything from plain English, to boilerplate legal language, to highly dense legalese).
• Approval: As in “I need to get approval to move forward.” This might mean that you are not dealing with the decision-maker, but this is not necessarily the case. It might mean that decisions are made by committee. It might be that certain levels of decisions are made at different points in the hierarchy. It might be that your client simply needs time and space to make a decision, but doesn’t feel comfortable being candid.

Care to share common-nyms that you have experienced?