You want to grow your business and increase sales of your product or service.  Maybe you want to grow the size of your organization, “scale” your business, or grow your “platform.”  You know you need be out there, you need to be seen and heard. So, you:

–  regularly attend networking meetings;
–  read posts and add comments to Facebook and other social media sites;
–  occasionally update your website with posts about your latest project.

But something isn’t working right.  Your audience glazes over when you’re in a meeting and you give your elevator pitch.  When you post on social media you get very little engagement from other readers.  When you have a chance to sell, you have trouble closing the deal.

Consider:

• people don’t use or buy the best products or services.  They go with the ones they understand the best.
• it’s not what you say.  It’s what your prospective client hears.
• for your message to make an impact, the listener/reader has to find individual, personal meaning in your words.

That’s why it’s so important that your message has clarity.  And that it connects with your audience.

I’ll say that again.  Your message needs to be clear.  And, for it to be effective and remembered, it needs to connect with your listener.  Whether it’s your thirty second meeting introduction, a sales presentation, social media posts, or your email/direct mail/blog posts/website content, the words matter.

The words you choose should explain as well as motivate.  They should cause one to think as well as act.  They should trigger emotions as well as understanding.  They should compel the listener or reader to raise his hand and say, “I want to pay attention. Tell me more.”

Yes, it’s important to put the right words in the right order. But they also need to be directed towards the right audience.

We’ll dig a little deeper into this topic in our next post.