Words Matter

Reading Time: 3 minutes Many years ago, I was called into the offices of a major TV shopping channel to improve their on-air visual presentation. As part of their request, they provided me with a list of key words their “hosts” were directed to use when describing their jewelry. I was struck by the emotion each of their selected words conveyed compared to the tired adjectives like “pretty” and even “beautiful.” Hosts were told to never describe a ring as “pretty”…the ring was to be described as “stunning” or “spectacular” or “classic!” This group of adjectives can serve any jewelry store staff when describing a piece of merchandise to a prospective buyer. Think about this. Miss X walks into the store and finds a diamond fashion ring. To her, the ring is wonderful. The design appeals to her sense of style. The diamonds really sparkle. To the sales associate helping her, the ring is certainly ok, but not her personal pick of all the showcase choices. The associate is happy none the less because a big sale may be moments away. The buyer, Miss X has found love, but the sales associate has not – at least not yet. At this moment, if the sales associate is to do his/her job, they must find and convey enthusiasm, not so much about the ring itself, but the happiness the prospective buyer has found. The easiest way to do that is through the use of superlative, emotional adjectives confidently presented. “Wow, it looks (terrific, striking, so perfect, stunning, glowing, shimmering, full of light, fabulous, radiant) on your hand.” As opposed to “Yes, it is a pretty ring.” If the sales associate has created a budding rapport with Miss X, when he/she describes the ring as “Fabulous” Miss X will give that word even more power. I do not suggest any employee blatantly lie to a customer, but it is important to describe the attributes of the stores inventory in a positive way. I am including at the end of this column the list of those emotional adjectives. Cut this list out and give a copy to each sales associate. Put a copy on the refrigerator in the lunchroom. Ask your staff to choose a few of the words from the list and try to work them into their next sales presentation. Odds are good, they will see a different response from a customer when they appeal to the emotional buying triggers. Good Luck! Let me know how this works for you.