Sales Scripts that Sell, Second Edition

Using Powertalk Successfully

Effective salespeople around the world are powertalkers. In contrast to those who announce their powerlessness through their speech, powertalkers communicate a sense of control and confidence and thus help to direct the buying action.

Besides being in full command of the words they use, powertalkers also use fewer hesitations, fewer tentative phrases or qualifiers, and fewer unnecessary intensifiers. Thus, powertalkers make definite statements like “Let’s write up the order,” rather than weaker hedges like “I think we should write up the order.” Powertalkers evoke more confidence and enhance perceptions of their self-worth by not making statements filled with hesitations like “I wish you would, uh, give me an idea, ...