Language of Persuasion

The Words You Use Shape How Buyers Think About What You Say

Language does more than communicate information.

Rudyard Kipling described words as:
“The most powerful drug used by mankind.”

Perhaps that is overstating it a little.

But words certainly can influence what a buyer notices, how they interpret an idea and what they imagine when they think about your product or service.

That doesn't mean there is a universal list of persuasive words that will work with every buyer.

There isn't.

A word that appeals strongly to one buyer may have little effect on another — and could even create resistance.

That is why good sales language starts with the buyer.

You listen to the words they use.

You notice how they describe their problems, priorities and desired outcomes.

And then, where appropriate, you use language that fits the way they are already thinking about the decision.

There is another side to persuasive language as well.

Small changes in sentence structure — the use of words such as because, changes in verb tense, or asking someone to consider a future situation — can influence what the buyer focuses on and how they mentally represent an idea.

That is what we are going to look at on this page.

The Buyer’s Words Matter

You will often see lists of supposedly powerful sales words:
instantly, free, guaranteed, proven, cutting-edge, state-of-the-art, prestigious, outstanding, improved...

And some of those words can certainly attract attention.
But are they powerful for every buyer?

Years ago, a colleague and I had an important sale to make.

My colleague was the senior salesperson and I was the product and market manager for the overseas supplier. Because of my product knowledge, I accompanied him on the first call.

We were selling to a large petroleum company — Caltex in Australia, known as Texaco in the USA.

The buyer met us at the gate of the plant and walked with us to his office.

It was a big site, so we had plenty of time to talk along the way.

During that conversation we discovered something interesting.

The buyer had worked for the same company for 25 years. In fact, it was the only job he had ever had.

Outside his office was his 35-year-old Mercedes — the only car he had ever owned.

He had married his schoolgirl sweetheart some 27 years earlier.

He even talked about the shoes he was wearing and how good they must have been because he had owned them for 25 years.

Now imagine that we had arrived with a presentation full of words such as:
cutting-edge, state-of-the-art, revolutionary

Would those really have been power words for this buyer?

Probably not.

Our product may well have been cutting-edge.

But that wasn't necessarily the way to frame it for him.

Everything we had learned suggested that this buyer valued things such as reliability, durability, continuity and proven performance.

That is why persuasive language cannot simply come from a list.

The words that matter most are often revealed by the buyer themselves.

Listen to how they describe what they value.

Listen to the words they use when they talk about problems, priorities and previous decisions.

Those words give you clues about how they are thinking about the decision in front of them.

And when your product genuinely fits those criteria, use language that reflects what matters to them.

Listen and Adapt

This is one of the great advantages you have in one-to-one selling.

You can listen.

A copywriter has to choose words that will appeal to a broad audience.

You don't.

You have the buyer sitting in front of you.

As they talk, they will often tell you the language that matters to them.

They may repeatedly use words like: reliable, simple, flexible, proven, safe, quick, consistent and easy to implement

Those words are clues.

They tell you something about the criteria the buyer is using to evaluate the decision.

So instead of throwing every feature and benefit you know at them, listen for the words and ideas they keep coming back to.

Then, when your product or service genuinely delivers what they are looking for, use their language when you explain how it fits.

If the buyer keeps talking about reliability, don't suddenly start selling them “innovation.”

If they are concerned about disruption, don't keep talking about “transformation.”

And if they repeatedly tell you they want something simple, don't impress them with how sophisticated your solution is.

Good persuasive language is not about finding the cleverest words.

It is about finding the words that make sense to this buyer.

Because — Give the Buyer a Reason

One small word that can make a difference is:

because

Why?

Because people like to have a reason for what they are being asked to do.

A well-known experiment by psychologist Ellen Langer looked at what happened when people asked to move ahead in a queue to use a photocopier.

So, when the request included a reason introduced by the word because, people were more likely to agree.
Even more interesting is even without a reason if the word "because" was used people responded.

The lesson for selling is not that you should attach the word because to every request.

It is that people generally find requests easier to consider when there is a clear reason behind them.

Compare:
“Could we arrange a trial next week?”

with:

“Could we arrange a trial next week because that would give your production team time to test it before the next planning meeting?”

The second version gives the buyer a reason to consider the action and uses the word "because".

The same principle can apply when you explain a recommendation:
“I’d suggest starting with the smaller trial because it lets you test the process without disrupting normal production.”

Or when you ask for information:

“Can I ask how you currently handle urgent orders because that will help me understand whether our delivery system would actually improve things for you?”

Giving the buyer a reason that is relevant, credible and useful can get you a result but using the word "because" greatly increases your change of a positive response.

That is what makes the language persuasive.

Why So Powerful?

Now why would BECAUSE prove to be such persuasive word ?

Well, do you remember when you were a child and like most children at some stage you would have become obsessed with the question "Why ? ",
" but why mummy ?" 
and repeated the question endlessly. 
Now mum probably answered for a while, until her patience ran out, at which point she probably said 
" OH ! Just BECAUSE ...."

Help the Buyer Mentally Experience the Idea

Why can it be useful to help a buyer imagine using your product or service?

Well, some people believe that many buying decisions are not made consciously or logically.

"People sometimes consciously plan and then act, but more often behaviour is influenced by unconscious processes; that is, people act and then, if called upon, make excuses." 
( from “ Unconscious influences revealed”, Jacoby, Lindsay and Toth, in American Psychologist, June 1992, Volume 47, #6, 802-809).

That does not mean buyers can somehow be made to buy simply by getting them to imagine your product often enough.

But there is an important sales lesson here.

When a buyer mentally pictures using a product, living with a change or experiencing an outcome, the idea becomes less abstract.

Instead of merely hearing you describe a benefit, they begin to consider:

• what using it might actually be like, feel like
• how it would fit into their situation
• what would change
• what problems it might solve
• what concerns might arise

That kind of mental simulation can make a sales conversation much more useful.

You are no longer simply telling the buyer what the product does.

You are helping them think through what it could mean in their world.

How Verb Tense Changes Perspective

One of the less obvious ways language can influence a sales conversation is through verb tense.

This may sound like an English grammar lesson but it IS relevant in sales.

I've said this before but language (verbal and non-verbal) is just about all you have to work with as a salesperson.
As Napoleon said, " We rule men with words".

Past, present and future tense do more than tell us when something happened.

They can also change the way an experience is mentally represented.

Compare these three statements:

“We had a problem with delivery.”

“We have a problem with delivery.”

“We may have a problem with delivery.”

They describe similar issues, but they do not feel exactly the same.

The first places the problem in the past.

The second makes it immediate.

The third moves it into the future as a possibility.

That difference matters.

When you change the tense, you can change the frame through which the buyer considers the issue.

This is especially useful when talking about outcomes.

Instead of only describing what your product does now, you can help the buyer think about what the situation could look like after a change has been made.

For example:
“Once this has been running for a few months, what difference do you think it could make to your production process?”

Or:

“If this was fully implemented by the end of the year, where would you expect to see the biggest improvement?”

The buyer is no longer thinking only about the product.

They are mentally stepping forward in time and considering what using it could mean.

Future Pacing

This is sometimes called future pacing.

You invite the buyer to imagine a future situation in which the product, service or change is already in place.

That can make the benefits more concrete.

Instead of saying:
“This system will reduce delays.”

you might ask:

“If the delays were reduced over the next six months, what difference would that make to your team?”

Or:

“Suppose this was working exactly as you wanted by this time next year. What would be different?”

The purpose is not to pretend the future result is guaranteed.

It is to help the buyer mentally explore the possibility.

That can also surface useful information.

When buyers imagine implementation, they may identify benefits you had not considered.

They may also reveal practical concerns, risks or obstacles that need to be addressed before they can move forward.

So future pacing is not simply a persuasion technique.

Used well, it is also a way of helping the buyer think through the decision more clearly.

Moving Problems Through Time

Verb tense can also be useful when discussing concerns or objections.

For example, a buyer may say:

“The price is too high.”

You could respond in a way that keeps the issue in the present.

Or you might explore what would need to be true for that concern to become less important in the future.

That application belongs more directly to objection handling, so I deal with it elsewhere.

The important point here is simpler:

The tense you use can influence whether the buyer experiences an issue as something fixed, something current, or something that could change.

Use Language to Help the Buyer Think

Persuasive language is not about finding a collection of magic words.

It is about understanding how language affects attention, interpretation and meaning.

Sometimes that means listening carefully and using the buyer’s own words.

Sometimes it means giving a clear reason.

Sometimes it means changing the structure or tense of a sentence so the buyer considers an idea from a different perspective.

And sometimes it means helping them mentally explore what a future outcome could look like.

The important thing is to use these techniques naturally.

Your aim should not be to overpower the buyer’s thinking.

It should be to help them think more clearly about the decision in front of them.