Language, like persuasion, is an art. It's an art that can be mangled, yes. (Just look at poor Miss Teen North Carolina for a classic language malfunction.) And as with any art, (unless you're a prodigy as Mozart was with music, as H.P. Lovecraft was with poetry, as Pablo Picasso was with painting), most likely you will have to practice to be good at the art of language, and subsequently the art of persuasion.
In orienting ourselves toward our affluent clientele, we must use language and speech powerfully.
Reading is the best thing you can do to expand your vocabulary.
Having a huge vocabulary doesn't mean that you're going to be a great speaker. The art of oratory is an entirely different beast.
One of the biggest fears people face, is the fear of public speaking. And if you can get over that, the next step is having something of interest to say.
And once you get over the fear of speaking and have something to say of importance or interest, then there's the next obstacle. . . the delivery.
My transcriptionist tells me I say 'In other words' a lot. I believe I do this for two reasons.
Part of the reason I do this is that I want to explain myself fully and so I deliver information in as many ways as I can think of.
The second reason. . .I don't use the word 'um' and I think 'in other words' is taking the place of 'um' in my language patterns.
In his new book, 'Um. . . Slips, Stumbles and Verbal Blunders and What They Mean,' Michael Erard discusses 'um' as a universal language filler. In Spain they say 'eh' and in France it's 'euh' and Mr. Erard suggests that this language filler has been around at least since Ancient Egypt and Greece.
Since the advent of television and radio 'um' has been thought of something we need to extinguish from usage. Instead of verbal filler, it has wrongly become an sign of a lack of verbal polish.
'Um. . .' (the book) starts out with the transcriptionists of the Federal News Service (FNS). They're the ones that do the closed captions for the hearing impaired.
The FNS transcriptionists have style guidelines to follow when transcribing the news. Um, uh, ah, and er are never included, nor are false starts of one or two words or partial words. The exception to the rule is that policymakers are transcribed verbatim, ums, ers, ahs, slips, blunders, etc.
This got me thinking about perception and our president's speech "disfluencies".
Some consider George W. 'down home' and 'one of the people' with his speech patterns and gaffes making him more accessible and affable. While others consider his blunders to be an indication of his 'lack of preparedness' and/or intelligence and a dangerous indication of a 'disconnect with reality'.
No matter what you think of the man, you've got to admit some of his blunders have been really funny.
What if every word you uttered was transcribed verbatim? What could you learn about how you're perceived by paying closer attention to the way you speak? And pay closer attention to the way others around you talk.
Language is a critical part of persuasion and the ums, uhs, and other fillers 'say something' to your prospect when you speak. Keep that in mind when you are persuading the affluent.
Kenrick Cleveland teaches strategies to earn the business of affluent clients using persuasion. He runs unique public and private seminars and offers home study courses, audio/visual learning tools, and coaching programs in persuasion strategies. You can get a unique content version of this article.
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