Imagine What Your Customer Thinks!

By Ed Albertson
Vice President, National Accounts, Carew International, Inc.

In his book "Words That Work, It’s Not What You Say, It’s What People Hear", published in 2007, Dr. Frank Luntz offered this valuable advice to his readers, “Every message you bring into the world is subject to the interpretation and emotions of the people who receive it. Once the words leave your lips, they no longer belong to you.” (1) Throughout his book, Dr. Luntz elaborated on the concept that others use a personal set of “filters” consisting of fears, needs, beliefs, values, assumptions, goals, and past experiences that result in a unique and selective perception of the world around us. Though it is quite human to do so, such a process interferes with clear and accurate communications in a way that can severely hamper a sales professional who is attempting to understand their customer’s world.

This interference has two liabilities: First, our own selective perception limits our ability to perceive others’ views and drives us more toward a self-perceived understanding; which could overlook some very important issues or points made by our customers. Second, the solutions we offer and the words we choose may not make the correct connection for our customers, leading to delays, resistance and objections that could have been avoided or decreased had we chosen a better description of our solution.

The best defense against the first condition (self-perceived understanding) is to engage in Active Listening with the intent to fully understand what our customer is saying and, maybe just as importantly, how they are saying it. Listening to understand is quite different from passive listening and is characterized by generous amounts of acknowledging and questioning before responding and confirming our own understanding. Armed with a more accurate understanding of what our customer needs and why they need it, we are better positioned to offer an appropriate solution that stands a better chance of being accepted and perceived as having value by our customer.

With the second perception challenge in mind, we would be well-served to carefully select the words we use to make our case for our solution, both in terms of what our customer actually said they needed and wanted, as well as how we describe the various features, advantages and benefits of our solution components. Recent research in the field of neuroscience has produced starling evidence that memories and responses are every bit as motivated by our emotions as they are by the facts. Those findings suggest that the facts must be accurate and clear, but also that the emotional response by our customers to our words weighs heavily in the decision-making process and must be taken into account.

At the conclusion of that very same book, Dr. Luntz produced “Twenty-one Words and Phrases for the Twenty-First Century,” (2) a listing he developed through a rigorous polling process and which represents the twenty-one words he believes will convince and inspire all of us for years to come. Topping that list of twenty-one words is the word “Imagine” and it is that one word which he finds the most persuasive and personalizing in the entire English language. How might the use of “Imagine” help legions of sales professionals become more effective in the execution of their daily role as solution-providers, especially in this challenging, 21st Century business environment we must all navigate?

Imagine a customer-centric solution that focuses on what your customer really wants and is convinced is valuable to her or him, from their own point-of-view. Now imagine your customer telling you how that solution can make their worst problems manageable and their best outcomes achievable, rather than you telling your customer how that will all come about. Such a convinced customer means less negotiating, less pricing-pressure, less delay, less resistance and fewer objections to your offerings and ideas, making business life easier for both of you.

Perhaps John Lennon captured this thought best when he once famously said, “Reality leaves a lot to the imagination.” Make sure what you leave to your customer’s imagination is what you really intended to convey to them.


(1) Words That Work, by Dr. Frank Luntz, p.xiv: Hyperion Books, 2007: New York.

(2) Words That Work, by Dr. Frank Luntz, p.239: Hyperion Books, 2007: New York.