Power - Up Your Words... And Be More Compelling!

Words make a difference...and power words have octane!

Whether you speak to a group, speak to an individual, or write to influence, the words that you choose can make a huge difference in whether you succeed or fail.

If you are going to create compelling messages, it's important to pay attention to the words that you use and edit them for maximum impact and persuasive power.

Let's start with this example:

Scientists at the University of Illinois found that when a restaurant renamed dishes with compelling labels, sales rose!

Here is the difference:

• Red beans with rice became "Traditional Cajun red beans with rice"
• Chocolate pudding became "Satin chocolate pudding"
• Zucchini cookies became "Grandma's zucchini cookies"

How much of a difference did these changes make in sales? A 27% increase!

Here are other examples:

When the Collin Street Bakery, headquartered in Texas, changed the name of their fruitcake to "Native Texas Pecan Cake" their response rates in their direct mail selling of the cakes rose 60%!

When one word in an ad was changed from "repair" to "fix", sales increased 20%!

Words are your day-to-day working tools!

These examples came from the world of direct response marketing and they contain valuable lessons for you as a compelling communicator.

The purpose of a direct response piece is to get the buyer to take action... not tomorrow, not next week, but now! You are trying to accomplish the same thing when you communicate to influence a group or a person. You want them to decide, or take action, or even think differently. The principle is the same whether you speak or write!

Your goal is the same as the goal of a direct response marketer! You want a positive response from the other person (or persons) with the words that you use.

So your challenge is to find the right words for the job! Your words are your day-to-day working tools because you influence, sell, persuade, suggest and direct with nothing but your words.

Supercharge your persuasive efforts with stimulating words

Start to get into a habit today of editing your "conventional" words and phrases. These are words and phrases that are used in a typical conversation.

Start to power – up your persuasive efforts by using stimulating words and phrases that have an extra spark and pack emotional appeal to motivate your audience of 1 or a 1,000!

Here are numerous examples of conventional words and phrases that are edited into more stimulating words and phrases:

Conventional words and phrases	Stimulating words and phrases
We have to gain on the competition	We have to leapfrog the competition
These are surprising numbers	These are staggering numbers
We can increase our sales	We can multiply our sales
We can build momentum	We can ignite momentum
We have a lot of...	We have an abundance of...
These are weak results	These are dismal results
Gain their attention	Captivate their attention
We have to motivate	We have to energize
Break this negative habit	Shatter this negative habit
A tough approach	A hard-hitting approach
A money-making deal	A lucrative deal
A difficult time	A turbulent time
She's strong – willed	She's unshakeable
I feel taken advantage of	I feel ripped – off
Reliable advice	Rock – solid advice
Open discussion	Robust discussion
Very positive reviews	Rave reviews
A valuable skill	A Priceless skill
Overwhelming response	Massive response
We have to quickly initiate	We have to jumpstart
It's hard to resist	It's irresistible
It's an innovative approach	It's a ground – breaking approach
An interesting ad	An eye – catching ad
We have to move fast	We have to accelerate

The more agility you have with words, the more persuasive and compelling you become.

Here are three ways to develop this agility and become a master wordsmith:

• Buy a telephone address book with the letters of the alphabet and start to capture stimulating words by the letters in the alphabet. It is a handy, valuable, brainstorming tool that inspires your thinking prior to delivering a message. It provides you with instant "cues" or reminders to use stimulating words. It is also very useful in your editing process. My address book, at last count, has 560 stimulating words in it. I can use the sources below, but I find that this tool has a more immediate impact for me.
• A thesaurus is, of course, another valuable resource to build your stimulating vocabulary.
• A third resource, which sits on my desk, is Sisson’s Synonyms – An unabridged synonym and related-terms locator. It contains more than 325,000 synonyms and related terms.

 

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