Great salespeople have their ways of using the language to their advantage – little-known persuasive power words for sales! And they never reveal their secrets!
Who doesn’t want to close like Jordan Belfort?
Who doesn’t want to charm a client like Harvey Specter?
Answer: Every salesperson wants those – and many other – things.
Only a few of them get to see their dreams turn into reality!
Well, we decided to unlock some of those language secrets of high performing salespeople and give you a look into the minds of a sales expert!
What are sales power words and why they should be a part of a conversation?
Some consider persuasion skills a God-gifted talent: you either have it, or you don’t!
But as Basketball coach Tim Notke first, and later his proteges like Tim Tebow and Kevin Durant, said: “Hard work always beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard!”
With a little bit of hard work, you can acquire the persuasive language skills of the top salespeople on the planet.
Power words are a part of this persuasive language skillset!
They invoke an emotional response. They help the prospect understand and empathize with your sales message better and help you form a connection with them.
Use these power words in sales conversations
So, we all know that identifying and understanding the emotions of a prospect helps a salesperson develop a deep connection and trust with them. Rapport with the prospect alone can’t do much if the prospect does not trust you.
Power words facilitate and expedite the building of this trust and enable salespeople to close the prospect efficiently.
Without further ado, let’s explore these power words for sales conversations!
Words that create visual imagery (For Example, Because, That Means, Imagine)
In a sales call, visual imagery will make it easy for your prospects to see exactly how your proposed solution will help them.
That means you contrast their current state with their future state, that they will experience when they adopt/deploy your proposed solution.
Because your prospects are only thinking “What’s in it for me?”, even if they are asking a lot of other indirect questions. Answer this question for them and you will move them closer to conversion.
In these two paragraphs, I explained and you visualized the importance of visual imagery by using words that create visual imagery.
The first paragraph simply states everything in a technical language. The next two paragraphs make that information (in the first paragraph) easier to digest.
Here are some examples of it:
“ Our platform provides analytics of personalized video and that means you get an idea of how much video your prospect watched and where they decided to stop”
“..explore personalized video emails at scale because your sales reps are spending a majority of their time following up and less time on research”
Sensory indicators (Hear, Touch, See, Show)
We perceive our worlds through our senses. In a world dominated by video calls, your prospects are already actively scanning their environments for sensory cues. So, sensory words help facilitate easy perception of the world for your prospects.
In a 2009 paper in the Journal of Consumer Research, the authors concluded that “perceived ownership can be increased with either mere touch or with imagery encouraging touch”. In simple words, if you can make the prospect feel the product, you can increase their desire to own that product.
Besides, when sensory words are woven into the description of certain dishes on the menu, it increases the sales of those dishes.
Keys to creating vivid sensory imagery (Source: literaryterms.net)
So, go ahead – start practicing using sensory words in your daily life. It’s an important skill that helps close more deals.
Here are some examples:
“You can refer to this mini ebook that shows self-explanatory examples of how our tool helps sales reps and leaders”
“Once you start seeing success, your competitors will smell the good news and will be forced re-evaluate their strategies”
Make the pain and gain language more obvious (Problem, Solution, Opportunity, Challenge)
“So, after numerous failed attempts at following a diet program, you are looking for a plan that fits into your lifestyle. Is that correct?”
“So, your problem is that you have tried many diet programs but they were difficult to follow. And you think the solution is a program that fits into your lifestyle. Is that correct?”
Both these questions are specifying the problem and the solution. But the second one is clearly labeling the problem and the solution as well.
How does it help?
There is a subtle difference between the two.
When you explicitly label the problem/solution, you help form a strong association and that empowers them to think on their own. It also forms a bond of trust with the salesperson; the prospect feels like you know them better than other salespeople who don’t use such explicit labeling technique.
Ever thought of telling a story to address a pain point? Learn about video storytelling in sales
This technique also works with words like challenge/opportunity. When you reframe their challenge as an opportunity (for a better future) and you explicitly label it as an “opportunity”, you become a trusted friend who cares deeply about them.
As trust increases, so do the chances of conversion!
Loss prevention keywords (Avoid, Prevent, Minimize, Reduce)
Let’s imagine an example:
Brody is a 12-year old boy and his mother Betty pays him $40 as a monthly allowance.
She can motivate Brody to clean his room in one of two ways:
- By offering a reward of $10 if Brody cleans his room
- By deducting $10 from his monthly allowance if he doesn’t clean his room
Loss aversion theory states that Brody will be motivated by a desire to avoid loss in his monthly allowance. So, when Betty attempts to cut the privileges that he is assured to receive every month, his loss aversion tendency kicks in and it motivates him to clean his room.
Human beings are hardwired to want growth and prevent losses.
Certainly, not every company can secure millions of dollars in funding. And so, businesses don’t just want growth, they want to grow by avoiding or minimizing their losses.
This may not work all the time, but it certainly calls for stronger stress on loss aversion language in your persuasion skills.
How to help prospects realize their risks and what words to use during the conversation
(Source: Wikimedia Commons)
Sales words that demonstrate effectiveness (Fix, At the very least)
A study by the Customer Contact Council of more than 75,000 people found out an interesting insight:
To improve customer loyalty, reduce their effort so that they don’t have to do as much work.
How can salespeople apply this insight to their sales conversations?
It’s simple:
Show your prospects exactly what your “fix” is to their problem and how their effort would reduce if they select your product/solution/service.
Some prospects might still need a lot more; they are tough to convert.
The problem lies in their ability to trust. Maybe they have been burned before. Maybe they need the approval of multiple stakeholders. Often prospects are not comparing multiple products. They just need more solid proof to trust a particular solution that they already like but aren’t fully sold on.
In such cases, don’t forget to use the word “fix” to make your product/solution/service more appealing and trustworthy. It’s the language of customers. Use it in your sales conversations, presentations, and any marketing documents.
If you are passionate about optimization, run an A/B test on your landing page (or email campaign) to see how inclusion/exclusion of the word “fix” works for you.
Make messaging impactful with explainer/demos videos.
Words that create urgency (Now, Today)
Often, there is limited stock of products or a discount offer runs for a limited time – that’s easy urgency!
However, many products seem to be at a discounted price perpetually. They repeat their discounts so often that the concept of “sale” doesn’t hold any meaning; buyers know if they don’t grab this discount now, they will get it again soon. Customers of Udemy and Grammarly know what I’m talking about.
What if the product is available in abundance or the customer does not buy into the urgency of “available for a limited time only”?
Salespeople can also “create urgency” to help their prospects realize the immediate benefits of closing the deal faster.
According to Felicia Spahr, a leadership coach and persuasion expert, asking these two questions can help uncover reasons that need immediate attention:
- How would this help your business if you had this now?
- What would happen if you didn’t purchase this today?
You can try variations of these questions but make sure you use them because when prospects try to answer them, they get to thinking about the benefits of a quick purchase.
If they reply firmly in the negative, it means their need is not urgent or they need more nurturing from the marketing department.
Urgency without trust might be a setback for your prospect’s trust (Source: azquotes.com)
Make the risk of not moving forward apparent (Risk, Danger, Vulnerability)
The truth is some prospects need a strong nudge. Sometimes, using stronger language is the only way to get through to a prospect.
Now, these are powerfully negative words. If you use them at the wrong time in the sales process or the wrong sentence, your prospects might think you are trying to scare them into closing the sale. I am not asking you to play on their fears or bully them into making a purchase.
Use them indirectly!
If you have a case study or a testimonial from another client, try weaving these words into your narrative about those clients. Using negative trigger words on someone else (not directly on them) allows you to set up conditions that allow them to pursue such conversations within their buying team.
Even if they don’t close the deal immediately, they are likely to consult with their teams and share the same story you told them. You, thus, get to influence the whole team, which ultimately helps you close your sale.
Conclusion
Language is like a double-edged sword. Use it wisely and you will see a fruitful business relationship with your prospects and a noticeable increase in your company’s bottom line!
One of the easiest ways to use language to connect with and build a relationship with your prospects is a video!
When you combine these powerful words with video sales messaging, you build a deep personal connection with your prospects.
You can enable sales and prospecting teams of over 5000 businesses worldwide to leverage their relationships and close deals fast.
With HippoVideo, they can record, share, and track personalized video messages. We enable them to use such power words and phrases to close the sale quickly!