You, We, I and Us: How using the correct pronouns can increase revenue by 7%

Whenever you are talking or corresponding with a customer, you have choices to make about whether and how you refer to them and your business using personal pronouns like we, you and us. Getting such a seemingly small thing wrong can damage your business. 

Convention has it that we should centre the customer as ‘you’ and refer to yourself on behalf of the business as ‘we’, but it turns out this is not always right. In fact, a misplaced “you” might mean losing customers.

In this article, I am sharing my ultimate guide to “we, me, you and I” personal pronouns – which to use when, including phone calls, emails and social media, and how correct use can increase revenue by 7%.

I’ll also share how you can get a copy of Your Ultimate Guide to Personal Pronouns cheat sheet, so you never have to wonder what to use again!

Phone calls

When it comes to phone calls, our use of pronouns needs to change depending on whether it’s an outbound call — so you’re calling them, or an inbound call, where they are calling you.