Weak Words: The Sales Killer

How many times today have you said "kinda", "just", "sorta", or "hoping"? You can't remember? Then how many times in the last 30 minutes have you said any of those words? Well, I guarantee you have used at least one of them to communicate a point today.

Malcolm Gladwell's book the "Outliers" is a great read and paints a picture of how mitigated speech and pilot error are responsible for many plane crashes today. In my role as a Sales Vice President and director of the Sales Trainee program, I see many sales representatives crash and burn due to poor word choice and mitigated speech.

What is mitigated speech? It means that someone weakens their speech in order to be polite or ask for something indirectly. During role plays with my trainees, they always start with "I was just hoping to just say hi." I tell them to try this instead: "I wanted to make it a point to specifically say hello to Bob!"

See the difference? I am not saying be rude by any means. I am simply saying, use powerful words that get your point across with authority.