Speaking the Language Is Just the Start

Originally published on LinkedIn on June 30, 2026.

In automotive, you learn very quickly that language matters.

If you're talking about an EV and keep referring to the engine instead of the motor, people notice. If you're discussing customer loyalty and focus only on the first sale instead of the ownership journey, people notice that too. And if you're describing a connected vehicle solution in Europe the same way you would in the United States without accounting for different privacy expectations and regulations. Well, you've probably lost the room.

Companies are increasingly looking for partners who understand their industry well enough to speak their language because terminology is often the first signal of expertise. Conversations at the CxOutsourcers Mindshare event in Ottawa and more recent discussions coming out of MOVE: Mobility Reimagined London point to the same trend. Organizations are moving away from one-size-fits-all providers and looking for partners with deeper industry expertise.

The Ottawa event recap on LinkedIn framed the shift clearly. Organizations are looking for deeper expertise, stronger advisory capabilities, and partners that understand the industries they support. As they put it, the question has shifted from "Can this provider execute?" to "Can this partner help us compete and grow?"

The same shift is showing up in customer experience itself. This year's CX Trends report from TTEC highlighted the move toward more precise personalization, where customers increasingly expect brands to understand their context and deliver experiences that reflect it rather than relying on broad segmentation or generic interactions.

Speaking the language opens the door. But clients are ultimately looking for partners who understand the customer journey, operational challenges, regulatory environments, and the pressures their teams face every day. Mark Meikle-Braes and Scott Collins heard that firsthand during conversations with OEM leaders, mobility providers, and others across the automotive ecosystem at MOVE London.

Scott shared that several leaders commented on how refreshing it was to move beyond high-level discussions and talk about the practical realities they face every day. Conversations quickly shifted toward retailer challenges, supply chain complexity, customer expectations, operational constraints, and the difficulties that come with bringing new initiatives to life across different markets.

One discussion with Mark centered on the challenge of expanding a revenue-generation model in Europe that had worked successfully in the United States. Mark was able to draw on similar situations he had encountered supporting automotive programs across different regions, and the conversation quickly shifted to the market realities that influence success from one geography to another. He recently explored a similar idea when writing about fleet dashcams on the US versus the EU. The technology may be the same on both sides of the Atlantic, but the conversation around it often isn't. In the United States, discussions frequently focus on safety, driver coaching, and operational efficiency. In Europe, privacy considerations and regulatory expectations play a much larger role in how those solutions are positioned and received.

The product is the same. The context surrounding it isn't. That difference often determines whether you're spending the meeting building credibility or solving problems.

Our VP of Sales, Paul Feder , said clients can usually tell within the first few minutes whether you understand their world. Because Percepta works exclusively across mobility, spanning automotive, electric vehicles, fleet, and connected vehicles, conversations tend to start from a different place. Instead of spending time establishing credibility, teams can move directly into discussing customer challenges, operational realities, and opportunities for improvement.

He shared an example from an early conversation with a prospective powersports client. Their operations leader mentioned challenges managing seasonal volume spikes around model year releases.

Before Paul had finished explaining how we would approach the issue, the client stopped him.

"You actually know what a model year release looks like for us."

The client had spent much of the previous meeting explaining their business model and even defining the category itself. Instead of spending the meeting defining the business, they spent the rest of the conversation discussing solutions.

Every industry has its own version of this dynamic. In banking, conversations quickly move to KYC requirements and fraud controls. In healthcare, it's care transitions and prior authorizations. In hospitality, operators start talking about RevPAR and guest recovery. The terminology changes, but the expectation stays the same: clients want partners who understand the products, customers, regulations, and operational realities that define their business.

In automotive, those expectations are amplified by the complexity of the product and the significance of the purchase itself. Vehicles have become sophisticated technology platforms, and for most customers they remain one of the largest purchases they will ever make next to their home.

That's one reason I believe the industry is moving toward greater specialization. Scale remains table stakes. Expertise is increasingly the differentiator.