Radiant Pro Selling: What's in a Word?

Many sales professionals don’t realize how powerful (or adversely, detrimental) their words are when speaking with a potential customer. You might not either, but just a slight change in the words you use, and more importantly the words you don’t use, can significantly improve your chances of selling WarmlyYours radiant heating products!

It is a proven psychological fact that people love to hear their own name; it gives them a sense of feeling important to you. This applies to all people, from shy people to outgoing people, from sensitive types to tough types, from young to older individuals. Keep in mind that to most people, their own name is the sweetest and most important sounding word in any language. Try to use their name at least 3 times in conversation and remember a unique trait or fact about them to help you remember and retain their name and face for future interactions; this will greatly help you build a rapport with them.

When speaking with a customer whose name you aren’t sure how to pronounce, you should always ask them how their name is pronounced. Have them say it for you a few times if needed. They will appreciate you making the effort to get their name right. Nothing can hurt your rapport (and your sale) worse than repeatedly mispronouncing a potential customer’s name.

For formal names (e.g. Robert, Michael, Steven), ask the customer if he prefers to go by Rob (or Bob), Mike, or Steve. If you can call someone by their nickname, just like their good friends, then you become more of a friend than a stranger yourself. Just be sure you always ask for permission first. You never want to just use someone’s nickname without his or her permission. If they do go by Robert, they most likely would not appreciate you calling them Bob!

In addition to using a person’s name throughout your conversations, there are certain powerful keywords that promote sales by encouraging your prospects to buy. More importantly, there are other keywords that have exactly the opposite effect. They may even scare your customers away from buying. Your strategy should always be to use as many sales promoting words, and as few if any of the ‘scare’ words when communicating with your customers.

Use the following sales promoting power words as much as possible:

You, free, new, discover, save, absolutely, exactly, guaranteed, satisfied, quality, discount, introducing, improved, exclusive, results, benefits, easy, simple, proven, love, provide, now, gain, happy, comfortable, healthy, safe, right (or correct), fun, value, wanted, people, customers, and why.

Avoid the following ‘scare’ words as much as possible:

No, buy, pay, purchase, obligation, failure, bad, cheap, sell, loss, liability, difficult, wrong, decision, deal, hard, fail, cost, worry, contract, expense (or expensive), unsure, tough, possibly, maybe, learn, perhaps, price, hope.

Your customers don’t like to “pay, buy, order, purchase or be sold;” they like to “get things”. People don’t like “costs,” but they are okay with “payments.” Almost any "scare" word can be replaced with a different word or phrase that means virtually the same thing, but doesn’t damage your rapport, or impair your ability to close the sale. For example, instead of “Would you like to buy this product today?”, you could use “Would you like us to get this product out to you today?”

Keep these easy tips in mind next time you’re speaking with your customer, and you will be well on your way to mastering WarmlyYours Radiant floor heating sales.

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