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A vocabulary is a stock of words used in a language, by a class or individual, or in any field of knowledge. Vocabu- laries vary with the profession or business. As a salesman you do not need the vocabulary of an anthropologist, but you do need a vocabulary that includes a group of words with color and meaning to help you describe, explain, define, illustrate, and visualize your products. A group of words of this nature will certainly qualify you to portray the advantages and ben- efits the prospect will derive from your product. In the United States today there are about 160 million people, and they are all subject to the power of words. Words move, impel, and influence. The salesman who has at his command a choice stock of words is the one that takes the lead, and picks the choice plums in the field of selling. A large stock of words gives a wide range of knowledge and helps the salesman to develop more tools with which to think and with which to demonstrate the power of creative selling. Men could communicate with each other by sounds and signs long before they invented words with which to talk and write. Their basic nature was attuned to sound. That basic nature remains, and even today men will respond more quickly to the spoken word that they will to the written word. Spoken words are sound signals that touch this basic nature, and they are a sure means of getting the quickest reaction and the most favorable response. All ideas, according to Professor James, the celebrated psychologist, are instantly associated with words. Therefore, words play an important part in selling, and it is essential 134 WATCH YOUR WORDS to use the best ones at the right time. Prospects will react more quickly and more favorably to the stimulus of words than they will to that of pictures or colors. Since words play such an important part in selling, let us stop for a moment and analyze them. What is a word? A word is a definite unit of intelligence. It is a symbol that means or signifies something. It is an utterance implying the faith or authority of the person who utters it. Without mean- ing, it is a noise or just a sound. With meaning, it is a com- plete unit of speech that signifies and communicates an idea. Therefore, as a salesman you employ words to convey your message to the prospect. To do this successfully you must think, reason, and visualize the words which will do it. Words are the wings of thought—choose words that make thought fly. In the last analysis, there are only two intelligent ways to communicate thoughts and ideas. One is oral and the other is written. To make these two methods more vivid and elastic, words are incorporated in the different parts of speech. The part of speech that names a thing is a noun, that which describes a thing is an adjective, and that which af- firms a thing is a verb. For example, "The prospect is happy." In this sentence, "prospect" is the noun, "is" is the verb, and "happy" is the adjective. In selling, all parts of speech come into play. It is most important to know when to use one more than the other. |
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