The Words We Select with YouTube Link
Video Offering: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qP4Edy0F6g
There is a need to be careful with the words we select. As I re-read what I just wrote, I am impressed by how deep and at the same time shallow those words can be received. I will let you judge how deep or shallow they are. This goes beyond the old saying, “Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me.” Words can hurt us in business.
It seems like every meeting I engage in lately, social media or Web 2.0 is mentioned. Everyone is blogging. My concern with blogging is word selection and correct spelling. I have discovered some very capable professionals forgo credibility because they use there when their should be used. Some have gone so far as to turn their spell check OFF.
Beyond credibility, social media also trains our associates and audience of consumers. The goal of a blog, at its best, should attract prospects that can be converted into clients. Provide enough information in your blog to encourage the reader to want more.
As businesses are formed, ideas are shared, and products/services are created. Words are used to tell our story. This sounds overly simple. Yet, time and time again, I see business owners/developers lose their audience due to poor word selection. A number of ideas to improve in this area include:
- Read, re-read, and hire an editor. Read other people’s books, blogs, and articles.
- Join a Toastmasters Club (www.toastmasters.org). Participating in Table Topics at a Toastmaster Club meeting will teach you how to think on your feet while learning to select the correct words for what you mean.
- Use Internet tools to check spelling, correct word use, and create freshness with a Thesaurus. Use the online dictionary. It is free and easy to use. Yes, it takes time to select which there or their you use. When thinking about the time invested I think of this, “I am writing this blog with the idea of attracting people to me.” When I use the correct words, I have a greater likelihood of people seeing me as a valuable hire. When I use the wrong words, I have less value and might be perceived as someone who would provide the wrong information when guiding my client.
- Convey ideas with short bullet points versus long sentences and paragraphs. This short quote from Abraham Lincoln tells a full story, “All that I am or hope to be, I owe to my mother.”
- Tell meaningful stories, including real people who have real life experience. When telling a story in front of a live audience or in a blog, it is important to connect with real life stories. Telling is not selling. Connecting with personal stories is selling because you are connecting by what other people have experienced. I was recently told that, when telling a story, if I can make my grandmother seem to be your grandmother we are connected at that point.
Time to decide. Is this deep or shallow or somewhere in between? Whatever you decide, selecting your words wisely is important. As the old saying goes, “Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me.” (Yes, I went to the Internet to check that this was an accurate quote. I had substituted will for the word may.) In the case of the words we select, the choices we make can add credibility to our cause, or cause our cause to break and hurt.
Gerry Rose runs INTEGRITY Networking Solutions in Oceanside, CA. He works with people in business who want to attract the right prospects and generate more referrals. More than 10,000 businesses have been presented the INTEGRITY Networking Solutions system in San Diego, Los Angeles, Riverside, and Orange Counties.
Gerry’s stimulating presentation Unlimited Prospects, Unlimited Referrals is ideally suited for small business owners, home-based businesses, and independent professionals who want clearer direction and want to attract more prospects, develop dynamic systems, and strengthen their companies’ accountability. Gerry does one on one consulting, conducts a range of keynote speeches from thirty minutes to full-day education workshops.
His book series, Unlimited Prospects, Unlimited Referrals, are available on the website, www.integritysd.com.
Gerry has more than 20 years’ experience directing business owners how to grow their businesses. He is a networking dynamo. Those who know him will assure you that he does a great job of bringing people together—which is why he started INTEGRITY.
Involved with networking organizations since 1984, Gerry is a Distinguished Toastmaster, a member of Toastmaster International, and has chaired numerous chambers of commerce and non-profit organizations.
Are you truly committed to attracting the right prospects and generate more referrals? If so then contact INTEGRITY Networking Solutions for availability and information. You can contact Gerry by mail at 1610 Quiet Hills Drive, Oceanside, CA 92056. Direct dial (760) 439-4623; e-mail to gerry@integritysd.com. For more information, go to www.integritysd.com
