Tweet

Powerful, Persuasive and Motivating Language

Guest post by: Wendy Weiss

Article Overview: I did a teleconference a few weeks ago with people who were new in sales and new to prospecting. The focus of the call was to help participants get beyond fear and understand their prospecting process.

Powerful, Persuasive and Motivating Language

I did a teleconference a few weeks ago with people who were new in sales and new to prospecting. The focus of the call was to help participants get beyond fear and understand their prospecting process.

One of the participants on the call told me that she had been given the telephone prospecting script that her team leader uses to set appointments. The team leader was a highly successful sales professional who had been in the business for many years and made quite a lot of money. The participant, who had been in the business for approximately a week, told me that she was going to work with the script and 'make it her own.'

'No!' I cried out. 'Don't do that! Don't make it your own!'

My reasoning? This participant was a beginner. She knew nothing about sales or prospecting. She had a script that was crafted by someone who was highly successful on the telephone. This particular participant did not know enough to make it her own. More than likely, in making the script her own she would eliminate all of the powerful, persuasive and motivating language used by the sales super star who had given her the script.

When you are on the telephone with a prospect you have about 10 seconds to grab and hold your prospect's attention. If you do not do that within that first 10 seconds, your call is more than likely over. If you get through that first 10 seconds, that buys you another 10 seconds. If you get through that 10 seconds it buys you yet another... and so on... 10 seconds is not a lot of time. To get through those 10-second increments, you want to use the most powerful and persuasive words that you have at your disposal.

If you are a beginner it is entirely possible, indeed even likely, that you may not be comfortable with certain powerful words or phrases. They may be very unlike your usual way of speaking. Even if you've been in sales for a while you might be set in your ways, accustomed to certain words and a certain delivery, and changing that might feel uncomfortable.

I've met many people who say they do not want to work with scripts because then they 'cannot be themselves.' Remembering that your prospecting call happens in 10-second increments you want to be the very best self that you can be, every time. That requires preparation.

One of the things that I've always loved about being in sales is that it is crystal clear. You always know exactly where you are. You are either scheduling appointments, or you're not. You are either closing, or you're not.

If you are new to sales and a successful professional gives you their script--don't change a word. That script will be your gold mine. If you've been in sales for a while and want to try out a new script, test it first. Your old script becomes your baseline. For example, make 30 prospecting calls using your usual script and keep track of the number of appointments that you schedule. Then make 30 more prospecting calls using your new script exactly as written. Keep track of the number of appointments that you schedule. At the end of those 60 calls you will know which script works better. That becomes your new baseline.



© 2006 Wendy Weiss

Related Articles
  The Strategic Use of Powerful Words, According To Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach
  Power Words

  Book Review: The Yes Factor - Secrets of Persuasive Communication
  Effective Workplace Communication

Article Tags: highly successful, participant, prospecting



Related Forum Posts
Re: What the Best CEOs Know by Jeffrey Krames - [quote="ideasuniversity":w31gke82]Where can I get this book? Two of my mentors are in the book[/quote:w31gke82] I would check where ever you normally buy books. I checked Amazon and they have new, used and Kindle editions. These are the book details - # Paperback: 250 pages # Publisher: McGraw-Hill; 1 edition (September 19, 2005) # Language: English # ISBN-10: 007146252X # ISBN-13: 978-0071462525 Lots of great content and lots of useful info. Shri
Re: Book Review - The Freedom Formula - Hi Shri, Thanks for your input. I have read a bit of the book. Now I say something which many may know, true freedom comes from the true source of Freedom. We read this in Luke 4v17-18. ......has sent me to proclaim freedom for the....proclaim of the Lord's favor. Later it reads, the people were amazed. She mentions God, but what about his son Jesus, who died and rose again. Jesus. Powerful. More and more people asking questions, why are we here and what is the purpose for our life. All the answers are in the Bible, which stands for Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth. A very successful guy in the US is Joel Osteen from Houston Texas, with over 40'000 people meeting every week. He has written a book: "Your Best Life Now" Well worth reading, too. Regards Beat
Re: Soul Crushing Cubicles - There are lots of "crushing cubicles" in Japan too! Last Saturday I had three hours to kill in town and rented a cubicle in a cyber-cafe, drank coffee, checked my email and snoozed in the reclining chair. Very pleasant! But for some people cyber-cafe cubicles are their only homes. Another "crushing cubicle" experience is a "capsule" in a "capsule hotel". The guy in the first photo reminded me of the kind of desk space occupied by some "ALTs" (Assistant Language Teacher) in Japan. Japanese school staffroom desks are notorious for being cluttered with junk and endless piles of papers and forms. I was a part time ALT for a while and enjoyed the experience - but full time? No thank you!
Re: Book Review - The Freedom Formula - [quote="bmueller47":mx7r9l33]Hi Shri, Thanks for your input. I have read a bit of the book. Now I say something which many may know, true freedom comes from the true source of Freedom. We read this in Luke 4v17-18. ......has sent me to proclaim freedom for the....proclaim of the Lord's favor. Later it reads, the people were amazed. She mentions God, but what about his son Jesus, who died and rose again. Jesus. Powerful. More and more people asking questions, why are we here and what is the purpose for our life. All the answers are in the Bible, which stands for Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth. A very successful guy in the US is Joel Osteen from Houston Texas, with over 40'000 people meeting every week. He has written a book: "Your Best Life Now" Well worth reading, too. Regards Beat[/quote:mx7r9l33] Hi Beat, I totally agree with you, but we are living in an age where we have multifacet religions and different opinion on who is who in the spiritual realm. It is so amazing that the first book to be published on earth could not be believed by many. I know all the answers to life are in the bible and I am glad that I am one of the believers in the word of God
Success Strategies - How to get the results you want now? Success Strategies and Action Steps I have used are: The Power of Choice Where you are at this present moment, is exactly perfect from the choices you have made. If you want to be somewhere else, you have to decide clearly what that is (your goal/outcome) and create action steps to achieve this. The Power of Focus The book "The Power of Focus" by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen and Les Hewitt, is one of my treasures in my Entrepreneur Library. If you focus on what you want versus what you do not want, your conscious and sub-conscious mind will direct attention to this. The movie, What the Bleep, Down the Rabbit Hole, explains this in detail about quantum physics and what we create in our lives. The Power of Commitment This is not about commitment to others. The first step is the commitment, your word, you make to yourself. Accountability and responsibility are additional success strategies and ingredients to creating the success, defined by you, that you want. The commitment to others reflects your integrity, your word and the team you work with. Co-workers, clients, yoru family, friends and community. My Success Acronyn in Success Breakthroughs(c) is: S pecific & self-directed U nlimited opportunities & possibilities C reate powerful outcomes C onsistent measureable results E xperience pwoerful transformation S olution and action-oriented S uccessful habits and outcomes Break Through to Powerful LIfestyle & Performance Choices Moira


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

A Guide to Franchise Financing

What I Really Want Is...

You Have A Website What Now

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.