WORDS THAT WORK

with the

Entrepreneur (General)
Use these words to improve your skills in selling, sales presentations, bonding with clients, copywriting, public speaking, reaching senior level decision makers, direct response, negotiating, mediating, prospecting, cold calling, website copy, business writing, public relations, business presentations, marketing strategy, brochure design, advertising design, positioning, persuasion, staffing selection, coaching and mentoring, psychological profiling, personal development, consulting, bargaining, motivating or inspiring, email marketing, NLP, body language, personalization, defusing tense situations, dealing with objections, closing sales and maximizing conversion ratios.

2001 North American Sales Research Institute The Brooks Group 1.800.633.7762 www.thewordsthatsell.com

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Why

Words That Work Truly Work

The Words That Work was original research that was developed for use exclusively in the political arena. Based upon his fantastic success with political candidates, Tom Travisano then went on to observe over 12,000 salespeople over a 20 year period. His findings were then ready for real-world application as related to sales improvement and enhancement. Based on this subsequent research Bill Brooks joined Travisano as they wrote the blockbuster book, Youre Working Too Hard To Make The Sale, which was published through Business One Irwin in 1995. After the unfortunate death of Travisano, Brooks continued to develop the concept that certain words work with great precision in specific sales situations with varying customer types. Prior to Travisanos death he and Brooks had begun to produce an extensive library of terms and phrases that key decision makers respond to most favorably as it relates to the overall sales relationship, perception of products and services, benefits most sought, expectations of vendor delivery and price. For example, the words that work best for a Corporate CEO are not the same words that work best for an Entrepreneurial leader. Your purchase of Words That Work is a great and wise investment in developing specific communication skills for your targeted market. It is not uncommon to find that more than one report is helpful in recognizing and properly addressing the prospect or audience of your desire. We recommend that you consider additional reports for other types of buyers that are closely related to those in your primary market. For instance a Primary Care Physician could also be an Entrepreneur or a CEO type. Note that each library includes tips on how to identify these types more specifically and choose your precise, exact words accordingly.

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The complete set of Words That Work packages includes separate profiles for: Entrepreneur (General) Entrepreneur (Financial Background) Entrepreneur (Engineering Background) Entrepreneur (Operations Background) Franchisee CEO (General Non-Entrepreneurial Background) CEO (Financial Background) CEO (Engineering Background) CEO (Operations Background) Corporate Executive Chief Financial Officer Chief Information Officer Researcher Human Resources (Training Executives) Purchasing Agent/Manager Real Estate Manager Insurance Claims Adjuster Facilities Manager Architect (Principal) Architect (non-Principal) Attorney (Litigating) Attorney (Non-litigating) Accountant (Principal) Chiropractor Dentist/Orthodontist Primary Care Physician Medical/Dental Office Manager Hospital Administrator Hospital Materials Manager Surgeon Oncologist Pathologist Radiologist Hematologist Semi-conductor Fab Manager Equipment Engineer Process Engineer Design Engineer

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Form A Special Instant Bond

Primary Want

o form a strong bond with this decision maker, include in your presentation a description of what you believe he or she really wants.

Use Words Like ...

Being in charge Call your own shots Personal independence Be your own person Make the business run your way Do whatever you want to do, whenever you want to do it Have complete control over your business

Why They Work

ost Entrepreneurs arent trying to build financial empires for themselves. Most of them they went into business to achieve a far more limited goal a steady, respectable paycheck without having to put up with a boss. These decision makers could never accept a position in a large organization, no matter how prestigious or well paying it might be. If theres a fact about these decision makers that rings most true, its that theyre almost unemployable.

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Entrepreneurs are resentful toward any form of authority thats exerted over them. In fact, they lack the single characteristic every employee must have ... being willing to obey the orders of a superior, even when you think the superior is wrong. On top of that, Entrepreneurs would never sit still for doing the things which employees are expected to do: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Reporting their results. Explaining their actions. Justifying their decisions. Appearing at times and places on demand. Cooperating with a superior whose capabilities they believe arent any greater than, and probably inferior to, their own. Accepting other peoples decision-making authority

6.

Being cooperative employees runs against the fiber of their being. As a result, the desire for personal independence more than any other impulse drove Entrepreneurs to start their own businesses. The impulse wasnt profit or riches. It was freedom. Thats an important distinction because it actually tells you the best way to approach this decision maker ... and the approach you should avoid.

ou can summarize almost all the approaches salespeople use with Entrepreneurs in two words: profitability and growth. In other words, they promise either a better bottom line or a bigger business. A few promise both. Profitability is only an intellectual abstraction for most Entrepreneurs. They cant feel it. It has no emotional urgency or meaning for them. Of course, they always nod in agreement and make the right comments when the subject of profitability comes up. But the fact is, it doesnt motivate them. They relate more readily and eagerly to the amount of money they have in the checking account or the cash register at the end of every day, or week, or month.

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Cash has always mattered more to Entrepreneurs than profits ever could. It represents a reality they understand and respect. When compared with the real-world significance of cash, profits seem empty and theoretical merely an entry on a financial statement. Growth raises the fear that theyll lose control over their businesses, a fear which comes from a perception thats fundamental to how Entrepreneurs approach business. They fear that a major increase in the size of the business will outstrip their ability to manage it. You need to understand that Entrepreneurs rarely use any kind of coherent management techniques. Theyre more likely to manage in a very hands-on way. Thats why they have difficulty handling managerial challenges that they cant deal with directly and personally. If a decision has to be made regarding inventory control, for example, they have to go and see for themselves before deciding. Youre having trouble collecting a Receivable? Gimme the phone, Ill talk to em. You dont like the way the product is being packaged? Just run down to the loading dock and show the kid down there how to do it right the way you did it when you were doing the shipping yourself. Managing a business is more an act of physical labor than intellectual insight for them. So, they manage by direct, personal intervention rather than with memos, policies and standards. That, by the way, is one reason theyre so unwilling to delegate and why they do it so badly when they finally take the plunge. Nothing of real importance is ever written down and passed on to employees so they can learn how to do their jobs satisfactorily. The result is a group of employees who are underinformed, under-trained and under motivated. Nobody in his or her right mind would delegate to people like that! Of course, the fact that the owner made people that way always seems to escape his or her attention.

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How to Make Your Product or Service The Right Answer

Product and Service Want

o gain the best chance of having your product/service claims believed and accepted, position it before you start to describe it.

Use Words Like ...

Designed specifically for your unique situation (e.g., for small businesses) Practical Street smart Nothing theoretical or abstract about it Wont put any demands on your time Wont strain your resources

Why They Work

ntrepreneurs are attracted to products and services which they perceive have been designed specifically for their unique situations. If they had their druthers, Entrepreneurs wouldnt buy a single product or service that wasnt designed and developed precisely 100% for their kind of business, industry, application or competitive environment. We were told by an Entrepreneur in the St. Louis area, for example: I only buy from companies that do business on the Missouri side. He was referring to the Missouri side of the Mississippi River. According to him, companies over on the Illinois side, as he put it, do business in a totally different way. Therefore, he couldnt possibly buy from a vendor who was unable to accommodate the difference between the two sides.

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y the way, when we asked him for a specific definition of the difference between the two sides, he couldnt tell us. But he was still convinced that there was a difference! Entrepreneurs have that obsession because they dont like to make whats called a conceptual leap. In other words, they dont eagerly make the move from the general to the specific, or from one application to another, or from one industry to another. And they usually resist adapting a broad concept to their own situations. Theyre always suspicious that salespeople are trying to make them force a square peg into a round hole. As a result, salespeople often hear Entrepreneurs condemn their product or service by saying, That doesnt apply to me, or My business is different, its unique. Of course, theyre actually saying, Im unique, but you dont make me feel that way. Never forget ... the owner and the business are practically one-in-the-same.

he words specific to his or her unique situation will have different meanings for different Entrepreneurs. Those words are really a matter of perception. They might simply mean that your product or service was designed for an entrepreneurial type of business, or an owner-operated business, or a small business. If you pay close enough attention, the decision maker will tell you which one he or she wants to hear.

hen a product or service is perceived as practical, street smart and not theoretical, most Entrepreneurs believe that: A. B. C. It will eliminate complexity from their lives, It wont strain the companys resources, and It wont put additional demands on the owners personal time.

Entrepreneurs have no patience for complexity because it interferes with the hands-on, quick-action performance they consider so vital to their personal independence.

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When things are too complex and ambiguous, the path is open for the abstract. And Entrepreneurs dont trust anything abstract because in contrast to anything thats thought of as concrete its theoretical. Anything thats theoretical is automatically ivory tower, or academic, or intellectual. Because it lacks the basic strength that comes from being street smart, it doesnt have any no-nonsense, hard-nosed practicality. The Entrepreneur draws a clear distinction between the street and the rest of the world. Only the street has the desirable virtue of being uncomplicated, down-to-earth and easy to understand. Thats why Entrepreneurs can be so frustratingly resistant to learning anything but hard information that deals with how to. Anything that relates to why is of very little interest to them. Their bias can be summarized in the statement: Dont tell me why, just tell me how. Or: Dont tell me about the theory behind it, just tell me how to use it. As far as Entrepreneurs are concerned, stopping and thinking which is what theory and ambiguity make you do is a colossal waste of time. It gets in the way of doing. And nothing must be allowed to stop that. Nothing must get in the way of action.

ntrepreneurs always seem to be running form on fire to another, from one crisis to another, from one challenge to another. Theres always a tension right below the surface when you talk to them. What are they tense about? Burning through their recourses.

It doesnt matter how resource-rich the business might be. They cant help buy having either one of two perceptions about their resources theyre either completely insufficient or just barely adequate to do the job. Earlier, we talked about the almost mystical relationship between Entrepreneurs and their businesses. Here, we said that owners and their businesses are practically one-in-the-same. Therefore, the Entrepreneurs idea of resources is very personal.

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If you listen carefully enough, youll often hear them say things like, I pay my bills. Although they mean that the business pays its bills, they cant stop themselves from speaking in the first person They owe me money is an acceptable substitute for They owe my company money. And since resources take on personal significance, they mean over an above anything else the owners personal time.

ronically, the decision maker might not even get personally involved in the use of your product or service, but it still must be perceived as not placing additional demands on his or her personal time. Nothing that passes in and out of the doors of that business is thought of in anything but the most personal terms.

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How to Make Your Organization The Ideal Provider

Provider Want

o gain the best chance of having your company accepted as an ideal provider, position it before you start to describe it.

Use Words Like ...

Flexible Responsive Accommodating/Willing to make accommodations Never try to put a square peg in a round hole Recognize your uniqueness Thorough Follow through on everything Cover all the bases for you Willing to do whatever it takes Make sure every detail is covered

Why They Work

he Entrepreneurs desire for flexibility from you is a reflection of two other needs personal independence and products/services that are designed specifically for their unique situations. Ironically, small and medium-size businesses outnumber giant companies by as much as 45-to-l.

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Yet, Entrepreneurs perceive that almost every element of society favors the large companies and institutions university courses, professional and consulting services, trade shows, published articles, seminars, books, research data, legislation, periodicals and just about everything else that teaches, explains or reveals anything that has any value. And when they look at the structure of that world, they perceive a rigid, unyielding indifference. Its too big and powerful for them to bend to their will, too impersonal to care about them and too consumed by whats of no interest or value to them. It wont yield to their needs or, for that matter, even pay attention to them. Therefore, they only want to do business with a provider who considers them important enough to warrant flexibility or, if you will, very special treatment. The ideal provider must be willing to make accommodations to what Entrepreneurs consider their unique requirements. Of course, that provider wont have to actually be flexible or make the exceptions. You simply have to be perceived as being willing to do so. Remember, the need for personal independence is a statement to the effect that Im different from all the others, so I should get unique treatment. Theyre not claiming to be better than everyone else, only different from them.

hat sense of uniqueness in other words, having special needs is the main source of these decision makers highly suspicious attitude toward most salespeople. You might have noticed that they often begin the sales cycle with the assumption that the salesperson doesnt understand them and is just, trying to sell me something. And, as we said before, thats usually a square peg for a round hole. If Entrepreneurs are going to perceive that your product or service was designed specifically for them (see earlier), they also must perceive that you took all the necessary steps to make it the right way. Thats why they always demand that you be more thorough and disciplined than they are. This is what we might call a would have or should have situation.

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If they blame their chaos on the lack of resourceswhich is a common complaint they want to be assured that you did everything they would have done if they had sufficient resources to make sure that your product or service is right for them. In other words, they would have done their own due diligence, allegedly, if they had the time and money to do it. Thats the would have side. On the should have side, a few Entrepreneurs are honest enough to admit that their lack of discipline has nothing to do with resources. In those rare cases, they want to know that you did what they should have done. Being thorough, therefore, means youll protect them from either uncontrollable conditions (what they would have done) or from themselves (what they should have done). In fact, the typical situation reflects some of both. Although they are often short on resources, theyre also notorious for not being thorough and they rarely follow through ... even when ample resources are available. That well deserved reputation is a major contributor to their need for independence. As we said before, they show a range of behavioral traits that make them unemployable.

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Move Your Benefits To A Higher Level

Benefit Want

To gain the best chance of having your benefit claims believed and
accepted, position them before you start to describe them.

Use Words Like ...

Order (in the business) Control Be in control automatically Order that reflects your personal wishes No more chaos Never tolerate disorder again

Why They Work

f theres a word that reminds most Entrepreneurs of their businesses, that word is chaos.

Every senior executive in every large company must learn to deal with a certain amount of disorganization, and tolerate it. Entrepreneurs, on the other hand, cant deal with it and cant tolerate it either.

hen they try to deal with chaos, they become victims of their own management style. If you recall from what we said before, running a business is an act of physical labor rather than intellectual insight they manage by direct, personal intervention.

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Consequently, they experience an exhausting drain on their energies whenever they wear the managers hat. Being in charge wears them down, and overcoming the disorder in the business is a challenge theyd do anything to avoid. If they accept the challenge, they know theyre going to be totally exhausted. But if they dont accept it, they have to tolerate it. And tolerating chaos is just as terrible an experience as trying to eliminate it.

on-entrepreneurial executives view the companies where they work as their place of business. Entrepreneurs, however, consider it practically their home the place where their entire existence is on the line every day. Its where the drama of their lives is acted out from minute to minute. Their fate rests on everything that happens within those walls, where their identity, value and purpose are being tested constantly. As we mentioned before, they consider themselves and the business to be almost the same entity.

he need Entrepreneurs have for order is the need for proof that their lives arent being squandered. But because they deeply dread the challenges associated with their personal-intervention management style, theyd rather get control of the business in a different way automatically. They perceive that business problems are attributable to people to themselves and their employees which is why they tend to explain problems and failures in human terms. Since being in business is an intensely personal experience for them, its not surprising that successes and reverses are almost always seen as the result of human performance. Blind, impersonal forces like marketplace dynamics might interest academics and other ivory tower types, but theyre just idle speculation to the Entrepreneur. If a problem persists, people have to change the way they work in order to solve it. Period. However, in starting their own businesses, they made the statement that they have no interest in changing themselves. They are what they are, and are stubbornly proud of it, even when they criticize themselves.

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At the same time, theyve grudgingly reached the conclusion that: (A) their employees wont change either, or: (B) they dont know how to change their employees, or (C) they cant summon up the energy to make the effort. One solution is to give the assignment to another person. But, in the rare cases where that occurs, Entrepreneurs put themselves back in power as soon as someone makes a decision they dont like. Because they could never surrender genuine control of the business to anyone else, except when theyre ready to pass it to their hand-picked successors, order must come in some kind of automatic way ... so that order comes to the business without the owner having to intervene or change peoples behavior. In effect, it just happens, automatically. And it happens the way the Entrepreneur wants it to.

t doesnt take a great leap of logic to reach the point toward which the evidence points Entrepreneurs want their businesses to be reflections of their personal identities. These decision makers thaw such personal value and identity from the business that it becomes an extension of themselves. Its as much a part of them as their children. And like all other parents, they want their offspring to show something of themselves. In no way is this an ego trip or anything as shallow as that. Its a matter of personal survival.

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Make Your Price A True Bargain

Price Want

o gain the best chance of having your price accepted, position it before you start to quote it.

Use Words Like ...

It costs the same as (see below) It doesnt cost any more than (see below)

Why They Work

any types of decision makers are likely to talk endlessly about things like cost-effectiveness, but the Entrepreneur is one of the few whos really serious about it. The reason is simple no matter how large the business becomes, Entrepreneurs always perceive that buying anything means taking the money out of their own pockets. Earlier, we said that running a company is an intensely personal experience for Entrepreneurs. Consequently, they consider the companys cash their personal money ... just as they consider the furniture their furniture, the equipment their equipment and so on.

he ideal product is perceived as being worth the money, producing a tangible benefit on a virtual one-to-one basis for each dollar spent. And the best way to describe that is through what we call graphic terms. In other words, choose a symbol thats familiar to your decision maker and use it as a model against which he or she can compare the price of your product or service (e.g., It cost the same as a set of tires)

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Using Some of the Words That Work for this Decision Maker

In a letter ...
Dear (Form a Special Instant Bond): Theres nothing like being your own person ... doing whatever you want to do, whenever you want to do it. (How to Make Your Product or Service the Right Answer): To help you get |there, a product or service has to be specific to your unique situation. It also should be practical and very street smart. (Move Your Benefits to a Higher Level): But, even the best product or service wont do you much good unless it comes from people who are willing to do whatever it takes to make sure every detail is covered. (Move Your Benefits to a Higher Level): Then, youll have control over a business that reflects your personal wishes. (Make Your Price a True Bargain): And whatever you buy should never cost more than ____________(see Positioning Your Price, above). I like to think that (your product or service) and (company) itself can be all that for you. But, you should be free to make that decision for yourself. (STATE YOUR PURPOSE FOR WRITING THE LETTER, WHAT YOU WANT THE DECISION MAKER TO DO, COMMUNICATE YOUR NORMAL SALES MESSAGE, AND FINISH THE LETTER.)

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In the form of advertising copy

Being Your Own Person
Theres nothing like being your own person ... doing whatever you want to do, whenever you want to do it. To help you get there, a product or service has to be specific to your unique situation. It also should be practical and very street smart. But, even the best product or service wont do you much good unless it comes from people who are willing to do whatever it takes to make sure every detail is covered. Then, youll have control over a business that reflects your personal wishes. And whatever you buy should never cost more than _________(see Positioning Your Price, above). We like to think that (your product or service) and (company) itself can be all that for you. But, you should be free to make that decision for yourself. (COMMUNICATE YOUR NORMAL MARKETING MESSAGE, STATE WHAT YOU WANT THE DECISION MAKER TO DO, AND FINISH THE AD.)

Important:
Always put the Words That Work in generic terms, as if you were describing universal standards. Remember, their purpose is positioning. Once you communicate them, you can then use whatever words you normally deliver to the decision maker about your product/service, your benefits, your company and your price.

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Words That Dont Work With This Decision Maker

Avoid using these words and phrases to describe you, your company or your product/service. Meanwhile, use them to describe your competitors. You never have to criticize them in front of the decision maker if you know how to describe your competitors with Words That Dont Work.

Organization Sophisticated Employee Theoretical Standardized Uniform The same for everyone Structured Procedures Growth Profitability

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POPULAR WORDS
Chief Executive Package
CEO (General) CEO (Financial Background) CEO (Engineering Background) CEO (Operations Background) Entrepreneur (General) Chief Financial Officer Chief Information Officer

THAT WORK PACKAGES

Entrepreneur Package
Entrepreneur Entrepreneur Entrepreneur Entrepreneur Franchisee (General) (Financial Background) (Engineering Background) (Operations Background)

Corporate Employee Package

Corporate Executive Human Resources (Training Executives) Chief Information Officer Researcher Purchasing Agent/Manager Facilities Manager

Independent Professionals Package

Architect (Principal) Architect (Non-Principal) Litigating Attorney Non-litigating Attorney Accountant (Principal) Primary Care Physician Chiropractor Dentist/Orthodontist Franchisee

Macro Medical Package

Hospital Administrator Hospital Materials Manager Surgeon Radiologist Hematologist Oncologist Pathologist Primary Care Physician Chiropractor Dentist/Orthodontist Medical/Dental Office Manager

Independent Medical Package

Primary Care Physician Surgeon Chiropractor Medical/Dental Office Manager Dentist/Orthodontist

Engineering Package
Equipment Engineer Design Engineer Process Engineer Semi-conductor Fab Manager Facilities Manager Researcher Chief Information Officer

Properties Package
Real Estate Manager Insurance Claims Adjuster Facilities Manager Purchasing Agent/Manager Architect (Principal) Architect (non-Principal)

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YES I want more Words That Work profiles to help me become a better sales professional, writer, presenter and communicator. Please send me the following reports:
Combination Packages o The Entire Words That Work Set of Library Profiles $877 o Macro Medical Package $267 o Chief Executive Package $177 o Entrepreneur Package $127 o Independent Professionals Package $217 o Corporate Employee Package $147 o Hospital Package $195 o Independent Medical Office Package $127 o Engineering Package $177 o Properties Package $147 Individual Profiles - $ 28 per profile o Entrepreneur (General) o Entrepreneur (Financial) o Entrepreneur (Engineering) o Entrepreneur (Operations) o Franchisee o CEO (General Background) o CEO (Financial Background) o CEO (Engineering Background) o CEO (Operations Background) o Corporate Executive (Non-CEO) o Chief Financial Officer o Chief Information Officer o Human Resources (Training) o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o Researcher Purchasing Agent/Manager Facilities Manager Accountant - Principal Architect Principal Architect - Non-Principal Attorney Litigating Attorney - Non-Litigating Primary Care Physician Surgeon Pathologist Oncologist Chiropractor Dentist/Orthodontist Radiologist Hematologist Hospital Administrator Hospital Materials Manager Office Manager in a Medical or Dental Practice Real Estate Manager Insurance Claims Adjuster Design Engineer Semiconductor Fab Manager Process Engineer Equipment Manager

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