Speaking in Tongues - Business-Wise

“Heart Speaks to heart” (Cor ad cor loquitur) - St. Augustine

Was going through the archives when I stumbled upon this long forgotten entry. Take note that this entry - written over a year ago - is among the top visited page in recent times. While Influential quotations from Augustine’s writings may be religious, I assure you that this entry isn’t. Rather, this entry revolves around commerce and the material world. When it comes to writing and sales, many forget their true function: to sell. The question is how do you sell?

I may not be a sales executive, but I am a copywriter. Though how we do our jobs are different, our purpose is the same. To sell. What experience in sales do I have? Theoretical and practical - from reading and being at the end of the sales process (the consumer/customer/client).

A point which Joe Vitale tried to nail in his book Hypnotic Writing is that speak i a sense that your customer understands. Go to her level. If she’s a doctor,speak to her in terms which doctors understand. To a child, speak to the child in ways that a child can understand. Salesperson and prospects speak different languages.

Surprised?

Sales executives attempt to sell their products or services to the prospects. They talk of the features of their product. Low fat. Goes from 0 kph to 60 kph in 5 seconds, low mileage. Unless your customer’s really health conscious (read a trained and certified nutritionists), low fat is vague. As a person who’s ignorant of auto-technology but wants to own a car, 0 kph to 60 kph in 5 seconds and low millage means almost nothing. All I care is would this piece of contraption be high to maintain? How much fuel does this machine eat up? If it breaks down, where do I tow it? Can it be dumped? And how’s the customer service and care policy? Will you give me a headache? Should I prepare a special budget for the hours that I will be kept on hold? Etc. etc. See the difference?

The transaction can be done in Mandarin, English, French, Dutch, Iban, Malay etc. But the essence remains the same. Both sides speak a different language.

Cor ad cor loquitur

If you want to sell to a housewife, reach out to her, be empathic to her situation. Try to understand her first. After all, you want to sell to her. Naturally, we resent sales executives and adverts because we know that they want out money in exchange of some junk that I do not need.

When someone calls out “Adik, adik, sini kejap” (translation: Excuse me, can I have a moment), I can guarantee you that my defenses are 100% up. How I evaluate you would be far more critical than me evaluating an piece of art. Make that one factual error and give me the reason to turn you down. Especially so after you disrupt my travel plan.

Alright, maybe not everyone would be as critical as me. But do not worry, defenses would be up in any case. Not unless you’re attending a post graduate fair and are looking for information.

Speak to your prospects in an understanding manner and I’m sure you can reach out to her. No worries there. But at as if he or she’s stupid, you pay the price of constant rejection.

So, St. Augustine summarised the technique quote finely: “heart Speaks to heart” (Cor ad cor loquitur).