In Part One we saw that a person’s individual belief system has more to do with how they feel about and respond to certain words than do their literal dictionary definitions. And, those who desire to communicate effectively and persuasively keep that in mind.
Are their words and phrases, however, that almost universally (at least within a specific language/culture) elicit certain feelings, negative or positive?
I believe there are. In this article, let’s look at just a few within the context of selling.
When beginning my career as a salesperson, one of the first books I read was Tom Hopkins’ classic, How to Master the Art of Selling. It’s actually where I received my first lesson regarding the power of words. In one chapter, he went through a litany of terms he called “Rejection Words” (terms that trigger fear and were more likely to keep a person from buying) and then provided their counterparts, which he called “Go-Ahead Words.”
Here are a few rejection words he mentioned, along with their more positive replacements in parenthesis: “sign the contract” (“okay the agreement”), “cost/price” (“total investment” or “valued at”), “down payment” (“initial investment”), “buy” (“own”).
And, you might remember my feelings about another horrible word used by salespeople, which is “pitch” (“presentation” or “sharing”). I learned that from Tom, as well.
I know you understand that replacing rejection words with go-ahead words and terms is not meant to manipulate someone into doing something they don’t want to do. In actuality, that really couldn’t happen. On the contrary, the pupose is to keep from scaring someone away from doing something they want to do.
The fact is that words are powerful; they present pictures and elicit feelings, both positive and negative. And presenting the right picture to the right person in order to help them “OWN” the right product, is simply a positive move, for both of you.
In Part Three, we’ll look at a couple of fun examples outside of this context.
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Hi Bob,
Yes…words do matter. But what matters even more–as you’ve said–is the representation a certain word or phrase creates in the mind of the prospect. There’s a whole field devoted to this phenomenon: Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP). NLP helps you understand how the human mind works and how it interfaces with our perceptions of reality–because our perceptions of reality and reality are two different things! And in general, we make purchase decisions based on an emotional perception, and then we try to support our emotional decisions with reality-based logic and reason.
Most salespeople understand the kind of rapport-building skills that NLP offers. It’s a gold mine for anyone who needs to communicate persuasively. Here’s a thought-provoking book on the subject: “Persuasion Skills Black Book: Practical NLP Language Patterns for Getting The Response You Want” (reviewed on Amazon at http://bit.ly/9emLz)
Looking forward to your next installment, Bob!
Bob,
Great strand of articles here. The power of words should never be discounted. It is what differentiates a home from a house, a friend from a contact, a referral from a lead, and a mom from a lady. Thank you for posting. Love your blog.
Michael
So so true Bob! As always:)
Words do matter so much! I recently wrote a post & did a video on this very thing, and I have my coaching groups spend a great deal of time on this. Because if we want our audience to hear us, we have to speak their language! It’s that simple. We have ‘the curse of knowledge” meaning WE know exactly what we are saying! But so many times we get frustrated because we aren’t attracting customers, or we keep attracting the wrong ones, and that is why…it’s our words.
I like to use the example: if you are an Italian instructor it doesn’t matter if you are the BEST there is, if you do all of your marketing IN ITALIAN, guess who is going to hear it? those who already speak Italian! And those who don’t understand, those that you are meant to serve? they don’t hear a word 🙂
The great thing about social media is that you can now simply ask! Ask your friends, followers and fans what words resonate w/them! I recently started a discussion on a local business network asking how people felt about “Coach vs. Consultant”. Wow! I learned SO much!
By the way, the first 2 things I bought to educate myself when I started my sales career were Tom Hopkins book, and an audio book by Zig Ziglar 🙂
This website has got lots of very helpful stuff on it! Thanks for sharing it with me!