Want to persuade? Talk fast!
May 11th, 2009 by Ingrid Cliff
Ever heard of slick talking salesmen? Well it appears that they were right on the money.
Research reported in New Scientist has shown that people who use phrases such as “you know”, “I mean” and “isn’t it” are seen as less credible than those who don’t when they are speaking.
The study looked at a salesperson selling a scanner. If the person used hesitant language, even if the product they were promoting had better features and a lower price – then people were less convinced to buy the scanner.
… And if you really want to convince people, talk confidently non stop, really really quickly, without any pauses or hesitation which means people have no time to think about what you are saying (gee sounds a lot like one very popular self help guru on the market at the moment who talks like a rocket).
It all goes to show that persuasion is not just what you say, but how you say it. And the less time you have to think about something, the more the style of delivery matters (You Tube Videos fit that category – you have only a few short minutes to persuade someone).
So, if you catch yourself stumbling over your sales pitch or tripping over your You Tube spiel – you may want to spend some time rehearsing it to iron out the umms and ahs. Toastmasters anybody?
Until next time
Ingrid Cliff
We put your business into words
This entry was posted on Monday, May 11th, 2009 at 6:23 pm and is filed under Marketing Tips for Small Business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
May 20th, 2009 at 7:35 pm
That’s really interesting. I remember at school I would often write something like, “I think…,” meaning that “I believe” or “It’s my opinion that…”
My English teacher would put a big, red line through it and tell me that “I think” was irrelevant to an essay. It made it sound as if I was uncertain as to the facts.
To this day, I look for the delete or backspace key whenever I type “I think”. Isn’t it funny how some things stick with you throughout life?
May 20th, 2009 at 7:40 pm
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May 20th, 2009 at 8:02 pm
I know what you mean – mine is going back and deleting the word “that” wherever I use it thanks to my High School English teacher.