21 Overused Words and Phrases to Avoid In Your Proposal
In the world of business proposals, jargon abounds. While it’s important (and often essential) to eliminate jargon from your proposal, sometimes it’s impossible to cut out all of the business lingo. If you’re struggling to reduce your jargon, focus on eliminating these most common overused words and phrases to make your proposals more engaging for readers.
Impactful
Everything businesses do should make an impact on the customer. While this is a powerful word on its own, it’s overuse in many business materials cause many readers to question if there is a real impact or if it’s just marketing fluff.
Paradigm/New paradigm
Paradigm is defined as “a typical example or pattern of something; a model”. In many cases, simpler language is better, and the overuse of paradigm means that simply using “model” might be stronger for your proposal.
Bandwidth
Unless you sell something related to network bandwidth, avoid using this word in your proposal.
Innovate/Disrupt/Pivot/Curate
These four words have found their way into the marketing material of many businesses, especially in the technology space. Their frequent use makes them easy to skim over words. If possible, substitute these words for something less common to make your content spark interest.
Literally
Most things in your proposal should be literal. Often this word can be eliminated from a sentence without changing the meaning.
Optimize
Like innovate, “optimize” has gained popularity and suffers from overuse. Where possible, substitute with a word that isn’t on this list.
Mandate
Mandate has a very official, serious connotation (often legal). Unless you’re an attorney or writing a legal proposal, try to find a less intense word.
Compelling
A powerful word, “compelling” has found its overuse in many sales and marketing materials. You can substitute it with “captivating“, “irresistible“, “convincing“, or “powerful“, depending on the context.
Momentum
This physics term started as a great metaphor for business and has since gained widespread recognition, earning its place on the overused list. Unless you work in physics, search for a less popular word to use here.
Dynamic
From price lists to customer engagement to the sales process – everything these days is described as dynamic.
Synergize
You may have noticed that many pop culture jokes about business include the word “synergize” (or synergy), and for good reason – this very popular word is often found sandwiched between other overused words, resulting in content that has an unclear meaning. Where possible, substitute “synergize” with a word that isn’t at the core of business jargon.
Fast-paced
Read nearly any job description, and you’ll see this expression. When every business claims to be fast-paced, it’s easy for yours to be lost in the crowd. Opt for a more unique way to describe your business or approach to stand out from your (also fast-paced) competition.
Point in time
This phrase might make sense in a specific technical document, but in most cases, you can substitute it with the word “moment” and have the same meaning without the jargon.
Too Casual Phrases
While you want your proposal to sound human and conversational, some phrases are too casual for use in a formal sales proposal. Unless the following phrases are a critical part of your brand voice, avoid including these in your proposal and substitute for something simpler.
On the same page. Substitution option: Agreement
Under the radar. Substitution option: Unnoticed
Think outside the box. Substitution option: Idea generation
At the end of the day. Substitution option: Ultimately
It’s not rocket science. Substitution option: Simple
Next Steps
As with any creative process, the words on the list are just guidelines, not rules, to make your writing stronger and more powerful. If “innovate” or “optimize” slip into your proposal content but you’re able to reduce other jargon, it’s likely fine. Just make sure you don’t have too many of these words or phrases in your proposal or you might lose your reader.
