After a week in which I "straw polled" six sellers to describe their new product to me, to depressingly discover that the word "fantastic" was used by four of them within the first sentence -two of them also described their new product as "amazing" in their first descriptions, - I was then rooted to my chair by Ms. Carol "Fantastic" Vorderman, who managed SEVEN "fantastics" in three consecutive sentences .....I think she was going for a new PB.....(BTW, for those of you not familiar with tv in Ireland and the U.K., the fragrant Carol is presenting something on television EVERY time you tune in).

Anyway, I wanted to have a rant at sellers who simply do not realise that words and language are the tools of our trade. Unfortunately there are too many of us who believe it's a game of "Outsmart them before they outsmart us".

Precise, dynamic, descriptive, vivid language and communication is what distinguishes professional sellers from the "Del Boys" of this world. Every word we utter MUST be crafted, edited, honed, and designed to build the exact image........ not a millimetre of error allowed...... that we wish to develop in the customer's mind.

An apocryphal story that I came across on a copywriting forum makes the point.... and illustrates "Precise, dynamic, descriptive, vivid "!:

One day, there was a blind man sitting on the steps of a building with a hat by his feet and a sign that read: "I am blind, please help."

A creative publicist was walking by and stopped to observe. He saw that the blind man had only a few coins in his hat. He dropped in more coins and, without asking for permission, took the sign and rewrote it.

He returned the sign to the blind man and left. That afternoon the publicist returned to the blind man and noticed that his hat was full of bills and coins.

The blind man recognised his footsteps and asked if it was he who had rewritten his sign and wanted to know what he had written on it.

The publicist responded: "Nothing that was not true. I just wrote the message a little differently." He smiled and went on his way.

The new sign read: "Today is Spring and I cannot see it."

Hits the nail on the head, doesn't it?

Words Tell. "Fantastic" and "Amazing" really do it for you, don't they?...ugh!....
Words SELL. Descriptive, glamour image, "mind picture" language changes minds, changes the world.

P.S. Do you know that there are over 40,000 descriptive adjectives in the Oxford English Dictionary?.........and "Fantastic" is the best you can do?

P.P.S. And if you are daft enough to admit to this.... please go and get a job that does not involve persuasion, influencing, or negotiating. You are a danger to yourself and others.

Keep Selling!

Maitiu MacCabe

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About the Author

Maitiu MacCabe is the founder and Senior Partner at Great Expectations Coaching, a Dublin based sales and marketing coaching consultancy. See his full biography and read his in-depth selling and marketing articles at: Click here for HOME PAGE