Most people who are high producers in this world study how the language they can greatly change the impact. This applies when communicating with clients, prospects, employees, or even their families. Recently, we have been looking at some of the best language patterns from the book “Exactly What to Say” by Phil Jones.
Today’s language pattern is the use of “most people….” when selling your client.
This is generally used in the sense of “Most people in your situation would……”. Or more specifically, “Most people with an interest rate of 4.50% or higher would refinance.” Or “most of my clients that have $10,000 in credit cards look to save money consolidating those”.
Or “most wealthy people buy real estate and make money by watching the value go up.”
The language pattern of “most people” is utilizing the Influence principal of Social Proof. Social proof, a term coined by Robert Cialdini in his 1984 book, Influence, is also known as informational social influence. It describes a psychological and social phenomenon wherein people copy the actions of others in an attempt to undertake behavior in a given situation. Social proof is one type of conformity. When a person is in a situation where they are unsure of the correct way to behave, they will often look to others for clues concerning the correct behavior. When “we conform because we believe that others’ interpretation of an ambiguous situation is more accurate than ours and will help us choose an appropriate course of action”, it is informational social influence.
Basically, when people are in situations they are unsure about – there is a tendency to do what “everybody else” is doing. So tell them your version of what everybody else is doing.
Hopefully I don’t have to tell you to be truthful. Though we can always tell the best-possible truth.
All of the great sales people are using social proof today. So should you.