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In the sales business, words can make or break your career. The words you use and how you use them can close — or kill — an order.

Remember, when you speak, your mind is on parade and your customer is your audience.

Recently, I received an e-mail referring to a little word: “up.” This small word was used over 40 times in the e-mail. Some examples include people stirring up trouble, lining up for tickets, working up an appetite, and making up excuses.

This e-mail got me thinking about the use of words in the selling business and, in particular, the sales of janitorial products and services.

It also reminded me of my late and great partner, Oscar Koeppel. One of the things that he taught me was that “words have economic value.”

Let’s review some thoughts about words and how they can help us when it comes to selling.

There are flinch words (chemical) and there are clinch words (cleaning solutions). One of my favorite sales trainers, Tom Hopkins, suggests a few flinch-vs.-clinch words.

Instead of saying “price,” use “invest.” Replace “buy” with “own.” Substitute “sell” or “sold” with “acquire.” Instead of “sign here,” use “approve this.”

Ask yourself how much more value, and therefore dollars, a high-performance thermal coating floor finish can generate vs. just plain wax. How about “an EPA-registered one-ounce neutral disinfectant” as opposed to ordinary soap, cleaner or disinfectant?

In our business it is not a “steam cleaner,” it is a “deep-cycle rinse carpet extractor.” It is not a “blower,” it is a “high-speed air mover.” It is not a “wet vac,” it is a “high-performance wet-and-dry vacuum.”

We are talking about golden words and power phrases. Check your literature and labels. Study those words that somebody paid a lot of money for a copywriter to create, and use them in your sales presentations.

When writing or speaking to your customer, think about this. Wherever you use the word “the,” most of the time you could insert the word “your.”

It is not just the words we use, but how we use them. If you ask a customer “Why” or “Why is that?” it may sound accusatory. A good alternative might be, “Please explain that to me again.”

Another great sales trainer Zig Ziglar has a seven-word sentence that is a good example of how the way you say words affects the meaning.

The sentence is: “I didn’t say she stole the purse.” Say this sentence out loud and try and put the emphasis on each of the seven words as you speak. First on “I,” next on “didn’t,” next on “say” and so forth and see how you come up with seven different meanings of that sentence.

Again, when writing a letter, proposal or speaking to a customer, there are words that will get their attention. Words such as “health” or “healthy” (cleaning for health), “free,” “save” (time or money), “quick,” and “easy” are just a few words that properly used and properly spaced will get your customers’ attention.

In a book by Susan Jeffers, Feel The Fear And Do It Anyway, she writes about “pain-to-power vocabulary.” She gives some examples as follows: Pain = I can’t, Power = I won’t; Pain = I should, Power = I will; Pain = I Hope, Power = I know; Pain = if only, Power = next time.

All of these words and phrases must be perfectly practiced and woven into your presentations in your own style, but if you work on them, I think you will find them of great use in your customer conversations.

By the way, if you would like a copy of the e-mail I mentioned that uses “up” more than 40 times, just e-mail Sanitary Maintenance magazine and we will e-mail you a copy.

To share your selling ideas, fax: (414) 228-1134, contact Mr. Dixon at (877) 379-3566




POSTED ON: 9/1/2005