The Shortlist Episode 89: The Short(er) List: The 10 Unoriginal Words and Phrases You Should Stop Overusing

On this episode of The Short(er) List, we're leveraging innovative and collaborative solutions to provide comprehensive expertise that's both strategic and sustainable. And we're passionate about it, too.

If that introduction sounds both nonsensical and completely normal, then you're in the right place. Don't worry, we're also guilty. Becky Ellison and Kyle Davis are back to call all of us out, including themselves. From world-class delivery to holistic experience, they're unpacking the words that have been doing the heavy lifting in AEC marketing for so long that they've become tired and worn out.

We dig into the phrases that have taken over proposals and websites, what we actually mean when we use them, and what to say instead. Because the selection committee just read 12 other submittals that said the exact same things. Here’s the deal: your people and your firm actually are unique—so let's start writing like it.

Podcast Transcript

Welcome to The Shortlist. Hi, I'm Becky Ellison from The Shortlist Podcast, and I am going rogue, because apparently some things are just too silly, weird or extra to fit into our regular Shortlist episodes.

So we are bringing those conversations, rants and other fun stuff that was too spicy for TV to you in bite-sized little podcast treats, hosted by me and featuring all of your favorite Middle of Sixers.

Today, we have an absolute treat for you listeners. I finally got Kyle to get back on the mic. We got him.

You did.

We got him.

Friends and comrades, presenting our producer, Kyle Davis. How's it going, man? What are you working on?

How's your life?

This is extremely overselling it.

It's not. It's underselling.

But it's right. You always asked me to talk and now I have a real microphone in front of my face and it's happening.

The first time I met Kyle, actually, when I first got hired on here, he already worked here. And through the hiring process, I kept meeting other people at Middle of Six, and they were all like, Oh, you got to meet Kyle.

Oh, my God, I can't wait to meet Kyle. And by the time, it felt like I was meeting Elvis. Like, by the time, it was like...

Ladies and gentlemen, could I have your attention, please?

I'd like to tell you that we're going to do a sad song for you. Again, massive oversell.

It wasn't disappointing.

Way too flattering of a comparison.

So, what are you working on these days? How's your life?

We've got a lot going on. We've got a lot of website projects. We have a lot of branding and messaging projects.

And so, yeah, it's full on, but it's fun. It's new. It's exciting.

We're marketing. We're doing it.

You're doing it. Marketing in the future. We're marketing our way.

That's right.

Boldly and I don't know.

Okay. Well, today, we are making a list of the top 10 words and phrases that you should never ever, ever use in your marketing copy ever, ever again, ever.

These are these are like catch phrases and buzzwords and all sorts of cliches that like we've seen a bazillion times in our 100 year careers in AEC marketing.

And it is time to trim the fat and clean house, cut the crap and go forward boldly into a succinct original and interesting future. How's that for ambitious?

Cut the crap.

We're cutting the crap.

I like it. Yeah. And I would just say, you know, this is a safe space.

It is.

Yes.

We're going to chop it up a little bit about some of these overused words and phrases. I will raise my hand instantly and say I have used every single one of these multiple times.

For sure. Me too.

A lot of these overused words are in some ways unavoidable.

Usually, it's due to time constraints or deadlines or a lack of input from clients or teammates or just a general ability to really take a step back and evaluate messaging in a way that can actually come up with something unique or specific.

We're all guilty of using these words. We're all guilty of a little copy paste, a little boilerplate here and there.

So true.

Even after this, I will probably still use some of these in the future. I can almost guarantee it, but at least here we can have a little fun. We can try to find a way forward.

It's true.

Just trying to get better at each and every day.

We're going to rise above listeners.

That's right. Yeah, we have all used these a million times. A lot of times it's just that we're on a deadline.

There's not enough time. We're copying, we're pasting, we're eating, we're praying, we're loving, we're moving forward with our lives.

We're excited to propose. Thank you for the opportunity.

And well, that's a great segue into our list. I can't believe I just said that's a great segue, which is such a cliche thing that you hear all the time. See, we'll have to do an episode of podcast cliches that we always say.

Oh, yeah.

So let's get right into it.

That's not something you hear on a podcast ever.

Here's our list, guys. Coming in at number 10, we are excited to propose.

Yeah, we are.

On the Pit Emergency Department expansion, et cetera. We literally-

There we go. Dr. Robbie, you're about to get some new facilities, buddy.

Wouldn't that be nice?

It's about damn time.

Listeners, are we watching The Pit?

Of course, everyone's watching The Pit.

Got to.

Checked on baby Jane Doe.

Looking good.

Taking formula well. They should expand. I'm not caught up, so maybe they did.

Maybe next season will just be the construction project where it's all about like, ICRA and like-

Yeah, just some master planning meetings. One episode is just an hour of them sitting in an office.

Oh, man. Reviewing proposals and like- I would love that.

We need the pit of construction, you know?

We do.

We need like the job site trailer or whatever. Oh, I'm writing that screenplay already.

Yeah, maybe it's just the Middle of Six daily team check-in. Maybe that's it.

You imagine the huddle. Oh. Hey, we're like, look at us go.

What are we even doing?

We don't even need to do this podcast. Let's just talk about the pit for 20 minutes.

And green light this immediately. I know, it's such a good show.

Okay, but you were mentioning that how excited you are to propose on...

Yeah, I just like, we're so excited to propose. Literally no one is excited to write a cover letter, and they know that. I promise, like, the reader knows.

Every cover letter ever starts with, we are excited to propose. I'm excited to apply for the position. We are excited to offer you admission.

Lies, lies, lies.

You sit on a throne of lies.

Who in the hell is excited about anything these days? If you want the client to sit up and pay attention to your response, this is your first and most important chance to grab them.

You know, you gotta kick it off with, like, something specific that can't be ignored or claimed by your competition.

You gotta say something about, like, why we specifically, you gotta hit them with facts, knowledge, like, show them that you have researched their project and you know what's going on.

Absolutely. Shortcut to uniqueness.

So what would we say instead? Well, we can't give examples because it has to be specific. That's the thing.

It does.

It's got to be project specific.

We're going to run into this problem.

This caveat is going to apply to a lot of them where we're going to say, be specific. And that is frankly where the hard work is because it requires knowing your firm, knowing the client, knowing your team.

It requires interviewing people, actually coming up with more than just these buzzwords because these buzzwords are a shortcut to actually saying something meaningful.

Yeah, if you don't have a project specific, like, oh, we toured the job site and found this, and oh my god, here's a crazy thing that's going to save you tons of times money that we know. Start with a fun fact.

Hell, I mean, if you're proposing on a school project and half your team went to that school, kick off with that.

I know, here's, I gave my presentation on robots in this fairy building when I was in sixth grade, and I'm so proud to be part of the team, blah, blah, blah. I mean, like, anything specific is gonna be better. We're excited to propose.

Let's kick it out.

Yeah, I think you're right. Like you said, it's the first impression, it's the first opportunity to grab their attention, and the last thing you want it to be is just a paragraph there where everybody's eyes glaze over and they don't even read it.

So get them to read that darn thing.

All right, Kyle, let's go. Let's have number nine, what you got?

Number nine is innovative, innovation or any combination therein. Another one that's extremely hard to avoid, but my bit of advice would be to actually describe the process or the end result of said innovation.

Like what are you innovating specifically? How might it benefit your clients?

You can even get out the old thesaurus and you could use things like pioneering, inventive, first of its kind, unconventional, and I'm not so sure about that one, but boundary pushing.

There are other ways to say this, but I think again, it comes down to what are you innovating? Because to just say we are innovators means next to nothing.

Nothing. Everybody's innovating. Everybody's innovating every single day because we're all moving forward in time.

Okay.

Let's go.

Sorry. All right. Let's get into it.

Let's keep going. Number eight, extensive experience. Oh my God.

The vast experience, a wealth of knowledge. I feel nauseous just saying it. Everybody has extensive experience.

Like you never hear about anybody having just a little bit of experience. Be specific. You know, like get right at like we did 50 bank renovations last year.

You know, we fixed more pipes than Mario and Luigi. Like get get into what specifically have you done? Don't ever.

Extensive experience.

Oof. Get right out of here, Mario brothers. There's a new plumber in town.

Yeah, totally.

It's interesting because they're they're plumbers, but they do everything other than plumbing, you know, like I've never seen Mario and Luigi ever do actual plumbing.

They're always just like running around and punching ducks and like jumping over chocolate bars and grabbing the flag and like running after the princess. Like I like we know plumbing companies in real life and they don't do that stuff. So, okay.

Next one.

What we got next, Kyle?

The next one is sustainability.

Once again, sort of overused to the point of being meaningless. It's this very large umbrella term that honestly has a lot of wonderful connotations and meaning behind it.

But when we're just using the single word in place of actual examples or actual tangible results, it just once again does not mean a whole lot.

So I would say, let's cite specific programs, let's cite specific outcomes that are a result of our sustainability or our commitment to sustainability.

If we're just using the word all by itself, people are going to smell that kind of lack of authenticity. Are we talking lead? Are we talking net zero?

Are we talking energy star? Are we reducing embodied carbon by some measurable percentage? Or metric?

Does your firm have specific practices that actually have a connection to, say, your culture, your values? Are you putting your money where your mouth is? Let's talk about the real stuff.

So true.

I feel like the client that is interested in sustainability is also going to be the client that is interested in accountability.

Boom.

Because you're going to want to know, like, you're not just going to hear, we're committed to sustainability, like, because the government's saying that same thing, like, I want specifics, damn it. Where are our tax dollars going?

Yeah, the more specific you can be. Use examples. Hey, we recycled 90% of our demolition waste on this job.

Here's the rubble. Show the picture. I mean, like that, that kind of stuff is super powerful because it shows you're not just going blah, blah, blah.

Like, we actually did this thing. All right, coming in at number six.

The big ones, the good ones, is one of my favorites.

This might be the number one seed.

This is earth shattering. Gird your loins, listeners. It's collaboration.

Collaboration.

Oh, collaboration, collaborative, we'll collaborate.

Unless you have a very specific example as to what that means, you cannot just launch the word collaboration at your client like a battering ram. It is not a selling point. Who out there is not collaborating, you know?

XYZ architects won't collaborate. Good luck even getting a meeting with them.

That would be a good bullet point on your cover letter. We are firmly against collaboration. Not doing it.

Had enough of it.

We won't pick up the phone. Good luck even trying to get a meeting. We're not interested.

We got a moat around our office. We're promising we're going to collaborate. We're showing up.

It's happening. Collaboration is occurring. We don't know.

The PM who wrote this copy pasted it at 1130 last night from a proposal from 2012. You've got to be specific. How are you collaborating?

What does it feel like? What's the benefit? Maybe look at some other options.

We'll be embedded. We'll be integrated. We're co-creating.

We're aligning. We're unified. We're partner minded.

We're working side by side. And then for the love of God, be specific as to how exactly that will happen. What does that look like?

What kind of, you know, meetings are going to occur? And what are the outcomes? Not just like, we're totally going to collaborate, guys.

Like, that just could not possibly mean less.

Do you believe in miracles? And if you do, then I want y'all to circle up with me right now. Come on, let's go.

Okay, number five.

This is The Shortlist. We move fast around here.

Yeah, we do.

Holistic.

Ooh, yeah.

Holistic services, a holistic approach. It's like trying to have your cake and eat it too. We're just trying to use one word to get through the sentence and move on to the next thing.

Describe the specific disciplines or the unique perspective that are actually being brought together. Like, what is actually getting combined here? I think the idea is the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

So how can we cite specific instances of like these disparate things that actually come together to make something greater? And once again, let's be specific. What makes your firm special?

What are the unique skill sets, the unique perspectives, the unique approaches that you're going to bring to the table? And it's very hard, but what's the tie that binds? What brings them all together?

What actually makes it indeed holistic?

The air conditioning at our office is unmatched, and we will bring donuts to the job site every single day. I don't know.

We're all breathing the same air.

Okay, number four, maximize value. You are saying nothing. We're maximizing that value.

Like value in what way? Cost, are they getting more?

I always want my value maximized.

You know, like who decides what the value is? I mean, we've seen this so many times, it's literally lost all meaning.

Yeah.

Like the word literally. It's just a collection of sounds at this point. Who in the world even says maximize?

Like this sounds like a generic grocery store brand of plasticware. Like maximize value, forks and spoons. Like what does that mean?

15% more, free.

Totally.

But even that's more specific, you know? Like we're gonna maximize value by blah, blah, blah, man. It's just, it's eating up space on your page.

Save lines of text and cut it out.

All right, our next one is the word robust.

What?

I think this maybe had some semblance of import at some point. It's an engineering word. It's some engineering speak.

It was kind of like a new way to say strong or comprehensive.

Comprehensive. That's good.

Now I'm trying not to say other words that we already had on our list.

I like robust. It sounds like a strong coffee.

Well, yeah, it's the definition. Google defines robust as strong and healthy, vigorous, or of wine or food, strong and rich in flavor of smell.

Engineering, for sure.

So I don't know if robust is doing it any longer. I think it's reached the point of its expiration, and we gotta get a little bit more specific. Gotta be specific.

We're gonna have to add this as a bonus word for our own podcast.

Specificity, how about that?

But we need a little bit more precision than robust.

Sailing the world alone has its nice days. Today isn't one. Jocelyn Nash is sailing blind in icy falls through dangerous shipping lanes.

Their company? Robust Nescafé. Flavor more than rich, it's robust.

Number two, we are builders.

We're builders at heart. This is something I've seen a lot of general contractors say, and it's weird because it almost sounds defensive. We're builders.

No one said you weren't. We all know you're a construction company. Why does it need to be said that you're builders?

You never see ads for a law firm that says we're lawyers. We are farmers, but there's a twist there. They're not even farmers.

They're an insurance company.

We are builders.

We build this, we're building that, building XYZ thing that isn't buildings for 50 years. We're building the future, building your dreams, building a mystery. Okay, that was Sarah McLoughlin.

She's very good. I saw her in concert a few years ago. I'm not ashamed to admit I cried.

It's a great song.

It's a banger.

It's a good one.

I feel slightly complicit here because this is probably, if I had to rank the one that I used the most, it's this one. I think we just get a little too excited on the punnage of it all.

It's just like, it's too easy to just be like, construction company, building the future, building great teams. We're building, man. We're just, we never stop building.

We're building, yeah.

So there's a part of me that is still clinging to the word builders because, maybe because I'm weak and I don't have any creativity left inside my mind.

Thank you for your vulnerability.

I would say if you're going to use it, you've really got to find a new way to do it.

Because I think if you scan the competitive landscape, the puns and the connective tissue of saying builders and framing the word builder in every which way, it's going to be a big challenge to actually come up with a new way of doing it.

But don't lose hope. You got to maybe it can be done.

You got to be new. You got to be different. There's other construction puns that can be used.

I love a good joke, man. If you can inject a little humor, like it's more memorable every time. I mean, we're different.

We stick out like rebar. I don't know. There's a lot of things that could be thought about, potentially.

I mean, there's a lot. Their construction has so many strange things that could be looked at that aren't just we build this.

No, that's a good point. We need to move past the building pun, and we need to start getting new and better and more interesting puns.

New puns.

You're right. There's so many different kinds of tools. There's so many different kinds of materials.

It's all out there. There's rulers. There's levels.

There's tape measures. There's nails. There's screws.

I mean, just think about all the puns that are available to us and all the new and exciting taglines we could come up with if we just dared to move past the lowest of hanging fruit.

Yeah, and AI will never be funny. So this is where you as a human have the edge. All right, what's happening here?

We've reached the end of our list. There's just one left, number one. We couldn't pick a number one.

Number one, number one is our lightning round.

Here we go. We're just gonna give you all of them, let them wash over you, and see what you're able to let go of. And I wish you all the best.

That's beautiful, what nice sentence.

Innovative innovation.

Collaborative.

Sustainability.

Expertise.

Seamless.

Passionate.

World class.

Comprehensive.

I said that earlier.

Unique.

Solutions.

Committed to.

Synergy.

Client focused.

Proven.

Holistic.

Deliver.

Oh yeah, we're just delivering so many things all the time.

We're gonna deliver. If it isn't donuts, say something else.

Strategic.

Robust.

Leverage.

Best in class.

There's gotta be more. We'd love to hear them.

Oh, state of the art.

Shoot us some comments. Shoot us some emails. Let us know what's driving you nuts.

But yeah, I feel better already. I feel seen. I feel complicit.

It's good to get it out.

I've got a lot of different emotions going through me, but I can use this as an opportunity to be better.

Be better.

More creative.

Rise above.

Talk to people.

Interview people. Find the real stuff. Find the heart of the matter.

Step up.

Try harder. Dig deep. How about that?

Yeah, dig deep.

Like a foundation.

Yeah.

Am I wrong?

Oh, man. Luke, see, we've solved the entire industry. Well, that is it for our episode this week.

Listeners, rate, subscribe, remember to share the love and make a friend. Recommend the podcast to another AEC marketer who wants to feel seen because we see you, we are you, and we love you.

See you next time where we will probably come up with another list of 10 things that we absolutely say, even though we say you shouldn't say them. Thanks, Kyle.

You're very welcome. Thank you for having me.

That was too formal of a goodbye. Thank you so much for being on the podcast, which is occurring.

Thank you for the opportunity.

Thank you for the opportunity. I'm so excited to have you as a guest on the podcast. And we will have a robust episode for all of our listeners.

It was a robust collaboration that we had today.

Best in class.

It was seamless. We were passionate. It was unique.

We are committed to solutions that synergistically focus on your client-centric, proven, holistic delivery. And we want you to be strategic and leverage your best in class success out in the world because we are building the future.

The Shortlist is a podcast that explores all things AEC marketing. Hosted by Middle of Six Principal, Wendy Simmons, each episode features members of the MOS team, where we take a deep dive on a wide range of topics related to AEC marketing including: proposal development, strategy, team building, business development, branding, digital marketing, and more. You can listen to our full archive of episodes here.