Super Effective Sales Words: Myth or Magic?
There is a long standing idea in the business world that using certain words will unlock sales, drive up profits, and generally make selling easier for you.
These special words, like “Free” and “Guaranteed”, are touted as being effective because they are based on scientific research and have a background in fields like NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming).
Supposedly, we are pretty much hard-wired to respond favorably when one or more of these words are used.
But is all of that just hoopla? Or do certain words actually make a huge difference?
Read more to find out.
Some words DO work better than others
When you get right down to it, some words really do work better than others. If you pick any given time frame, you can usually find a few of these “magic” words—words that are being used very effectively to market and sell things.
But there’s a big catch: the “magic” sales words are changing constantly.
As the general opinion of the populace changes, so to do the words that work best when selling. Your market is being bombarded with sales pitches and advertisements constantly, and their opinions and ideas are changing very rapidly as a result.
What is cool and trendy one week might suddenly be a big looser the next.
How to find the magic words (hint: it’s not worth it)
Finding the special words at any point in time isn’t very difficult in theory. In practice, doing this yourself will take a lot of time and probably yield mediocre results. Here’s how it is done:
- Find a good source of sales data (Amazon.com works).
- Select a category and sample the top 50 or so items
- Graph the popularity of words used in ads for those items
- Repeat for several data sets and correlate with time
- Analyze the graphs and pick words that are trending up
As you can see, there is a lot of data collection and analysis involved. What makes it worse, this relatively simple analysis (there are more complicated ways to do this) uses existing products and ads as data points, so if you are trying to be seriously ahead of the curve, this isn’t the way to go.
In the end, finding the truly “magic” sales words can be very challenging. People pay marketing firms *ahem* good money for the service, and even with all of our resources it still isn’t easy.
For small business, sincerity is a better choice
Trying to stay ahead of the curve with sales letters and persuasive words is like running a marathon—you constantly have to research, adjust, and keep working. If you’re a small business, that time should probably be spent on more important things.
Instead of trying to find special words that will “unlock your sales potential” try basing your sales strategy entirely on sincerity.
One of the most attractive things about buying from a small business is the level of sincerity and personalized service. Most of us automatically assume that big businesses will cut corners wherever possible, and that they are really only in it for the money.
A small business that offers real sincerity and caring will out-compete even the most accurate and powerful “magic” words thrown around by the big businesses.
In a world filled with mistrust, sincerity is a very powerful thing. Don’t you agree?
Reader Comments
Expanding on this idea, you might also say that tag lines for small businesses are over-rated.
Browse a forum like MarketingProfs and you’ll see the bulk of questions are, “help me come up with a tag line.” As if magically having a zinger will bring in the sales… you’re better off internalizing the promise in the tag line, delivering on it, and NOT promote it.
Jesse ,
I think tag lines themselves can be very useful (especially if your company name isn’t descriptive). It’s like a one sentence explanation of your business.
That said, I know some companies spend way to long over-thinking their tag line. Having a great product and putting yourself out there is far more important then spending hours (days, weeks?) coming up with the perfect slogan.
Funny how this conversation got turned into tag lines, but personally I really like tag lines. I think they give people a quick opportunity to express themselves, and I think they are really useful in business.
Back to the original topic, I’ve never been good with magic sales words. I don’t know what it is but trying to fit the ‘sales person’ mold actually hindered my sales for a long time. Sticking to my personality made a huge difference and kept me in business.
Anthony that’s an interesting point about trying to fit the sales person mold – that doesn’t usually work :-)
Most of the sales advice that you’ll find should be taken as an “idea” or “influence” but it shouldn’t change your personality. Everyone has a natural personality, and your sales style should reflect that.
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