(Full-Court Press is an annoying business term and is just one of the 212 Most Annoying Business Phrases Managers Effuse, Confuse, and Overuse detailed in the hilarious must-have guide for every workplace: The 30,000-Pound Gorilla in the Room. Available right now on Amazon.)

Full-Court Press

You really want to – we mean really, really want to – impress the client, and we get it. But do you have to explain this to us using multiple crappy sports metaphors?

“Alright, it’s game time folks, I really need everyone to play ball and put the full-court press on this client. Scoring this account will be a game changer; we simply can’t afford to drop the ball this time.”

Ugh. Kill us now.

A full-court press in business is akin to pulling out all the stops, going all the way, or throwing everything you have at the goal. Given that full-court press is a defensive strategy meant to pressure and slow down the offense in basketball, how does this translate into pulling out all the stops in business?

It doesn’t.

Nearly always, by the way, the full-court press is meant to impress the subject of your efforts – it’s almost never used to merely discuss how you’re going to attack a goal. Regardless of the business usage, how does any of this equate to playing tough defense?

It doesn’t.

Full-court press is just another in a long list of annoying sports idioms that sound tough or committed but should never have been included in the lexicon of the business world.

Unfortunately, like nearly everyone reading this, we’re stuck with the rah-rah crowd of annoying managers (the most annoying of all) who grab any sports saying they can find and beat it to death.

Our death.

Replacement phrases: Impress; Do your best

See also: Give 110%

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The 30,000-Pound Gorilla in the Room is available on Amazon