In my last column I quoted the Austrian philosopher, Ludwig Wittgenstein, who said: “He who controls vocabulary, controls thought”. I believe that implicit in this pearl of wisdom is a further gem. That is: “He who controls thought, controls action.” So, if in marketing the products and services you provide, you can gain acceptance on the meaning of words and phrases you employ, you go a long way in mastering the buying situation.

From my consulting and training experience, I’m convinced that few salespeople truly appreciate this concept. Further, if they understand it intellectually, they fail to employ it in their day-to-day selling practice. I believe the reason for this is twofold:

First, salespeople too often allow the customer or potential customer to establish the vocabulary framework in the actual buying-selling situation. Essentially, that framework is based on the concept that circuit boards are commodities, and when the buying decision is based on competition between commodity offerings, low price must be the purchase-determining factor. By leaving that concept and its accompanying vocabulary unchallenged, effectively, you lose the selling initiative.

Secondly, the vocabulary sales people employ tends to be product, service, or technology-focused, but not necessarily customer -focused.

• “Our manufacturing process laminates thicker foil and reduces copper thickness before drilling.”

• “We specialize in quick turn work. We can turn out 30 panels in 2 days or less.”

• “We have a new automatic exposure unit for high throughput and can process up to 5 panels a minute.”

In and of themselves, these may be highly commendable capabilities. But what do they do for the customer? How do they provide Customer Value? Unless your vocabulary can relate those capabilities to real customer requirements, and do so cost-effectively, they do not promote buying motivation and action. Your words and phrases must demonstrate how your ability to process thicker foils, turn out 30 panels in 2 days, or produce 5 panels a minute with a new automatic exposure unit can satisfy application, performance, and reliability demands imposed on your customer by his customers. If you can’t do this, you’re whistling in the wind. Further, unless you can demonstrate how these capabilities reduce cost to the customer, avoid it, or offset it by increasing his revenue or improving her cash flow, you’re wasting breath by your whistling.

Another failure in employing vocabulary to promote purchasing thought and action is, I believe, the notion that one size fits all. Too many sales presentations are canned. They use one set of concepts, words, and phrases to address all those they contact in the customer organization. The reality, certainly in industrial markets, is that “customers” are rarely single individuals. Rather, they are a mixture of managerial and functional people, who comprise what I call “buying influences”. Their perceived sense of need, and their buying motivations vary from one to another. The prime driving force in defining their perceptions is how they are evaluated by their superiors and peers. How are they measured? What are the criteria by which they’re promoted, compensated, downgraded, or even dismissed? What is a prime consideration for a design engineer is not one for a plant manager. And where price may be a low priority to a product or project manager, it has high priority to a purchasing manager.

The point is that one-sized vocabulary will not fit all buying situations. To make words and phrases meaningful, you must relate what you say to the interests and perceptions of each buying influence in each buying situation. Then, and only then, will vocabulary control thought, and thought, in turn, control purchasing action.