I’ve been thinking about impact and the impact of language on marketing and sales lately.
I’ve been working on a new program called “The Language of the Sale” because this idea of using language more effectively to accelerate opportunities has kind of stuck with me and won’t leave me alone.
That being said, as I have moved around the internet, doing research, I’ve found a lot of unfounded or outdated information about language use or “power” words and such.
This advice is often well-intentioned but also misses the mark.
Why?
Because in most cases, one word might or might not make the difference.
In my experience, it isn’t the particular word that gets you into or out of the opportunity…it is what the word or words invites you to do.
Meaning, are you asking open ended or closed ended questions?
You see, the language of the sale begins by recognizing that to create sales opportunities no matter if you are in sales or marketing starts by using language to open the door to a conversation, not a decision.
The language of closing comes much further down the list.
You have to start by entering into a conversation with your prospect.
This means asking questions that are an invitation to a dialogue.
You might recognize them as questions that require more than a yes or a no.
Depending on what you are selling or marketing, your questions might look like:
- “What problem has led you to start thinking about ____?”
- “How long has your team been feeling this pain?”
- “What does success look like to you?”
Again, not yes or no, but expansion.
Without a conversation, yes or no leads to commodity status…let’s not have that.