These Five Power Words Are Like Gourmet Aroma to the Discerning Customer

My friend, Jeff, has a nose for gourmet foods. He will walk past all the olfactory noise of a hundred competitors and isolate a single aroma that turns his head and makes him want to find out more. To watch him take a bite of gourmet chocolate is like watching the most beautiful story ever told. You want in on the experience and soon you are captivated by stories of jungles and cocoa and organic farmers.

Curiosity has been described by Edmund Burke as "the first and simplest emotion which we discover in the human mind." Those individuals and businesses that have harnessed the power of creating curiosity are the ones who lead us and make us thirsty for more.

What is their secret? What words do they leverage in crafting their message to awaken need and want inside of us? Are you effectively utilizing these power words in your marketing messages?

Power Word #1: How

How is that word that appeals to our need to learn, to do and to excel. It creates the desire to get me from where I am at to where I want to be in a practical manner. The promise and the allure of How boldly promises the message of exclusive knowledge, experience and membership. Consider how these messages create the desire to know How . . .

• How a bald barber saved my hair . . .
• How the XYZ Company grew by 150% in just six months . . .
• How can one word in your headline can drive traffic to your website?

Power Word #2: Why

The power of Why is the power of understanding. Human nature recognizes that the person who understands is the person in control. The promise of understanding framed by the power word Why is the promise of controlling one's life and situation. Create want and need using the power of Why as seen in these examples . . .

• Why social media will shape your business in the next two years . . .
• Why long term care insurance will let you spend more weekends at the cabin . . .
• Do you want to know why eating more meat is better for your golf game?

Power Word #3: These

Specificity is the intrinsic power of These. By isolating what needs to be in place and what needs to go you shake off the dead weight and tune up what is being neglected. Crafting a message using the power word These attracts a progressive and decision-making audience. Take a look at these messages . . .

• These 3 keys will make your business king at every networking event . . .
• These businesses thrived in the recession because of this one maxim . . .
• These people are better rested and more alert because of one common secret . . .

Power Word #4: Which

Choice is the power of Which! A menu of options, a buffet of choices, a variety to choose from! People feel better about themselves when they have the power to choose. Leveraging the power of Which in your headlines empowers the reader to choose. Which of these statements is strongest in your opinion?

• Which of these $10 best sellers do you want for only $1?
• Which businesses will still be in business next year . . . and which ones won't . . .
• Which healthcare plan will provide your family with the greatest peace of mind?

Power Word #5: What

Don't you want to know what's behind curtain number 2? Aren't you curious about what is the best bait for catching the largest walleye? Wouldn't you click on the link that promises to tell you what never to eat when flying? What business owner's wife wouldn't know what 3 things she had to do to be able to enjoy vacations with her husband?

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Creativity is one of the most desired qualities in leaders and top performers. Yet this one thing does more the stifle creativity than any other factor . . .

Benton Clyde Clark

The innate desire to be somehow noteworthy, memorable or at least noticed has motivated people to do . . . well, noteworthy, memorable or noticeable things.

Consider what it must be like to be one of ten children. How do you get noticed when so many are living under the same roof? My neighbor has multiple children who I cannot name. They range in ages from toddler to college grad. Large families cause me to imagine all kinds of things. When my mother got upset she would run down the list of her kids' names — first and middle names — until she got to the one she was after. Me. So it sounded something like this: Jeffrey Laurence Paul Frederick Alan Jack. What must that be like in a family with ten children?

I can only imagine.

Benton, however, did not have to imagine what it would be like. He had nine siblings. Growing up on the Mississippi farm meant they all had plenty to do. I suppose if a chore did not get done on the farm, it was not long before someone noticed. Stuff piles up pretty quickly on a farm.

All the chores could not keep Benton from eventually wondering if there was something more for him than farm life. It was an inner calling to do something noteworthy. At the tender adult age of 18 he left the farm to go work for his older brother at his jewelry store in Texas. Under his brother's professional care, Benton learned about jewelry and watch repair.

The desire to strike out and pave his own destiny kept Benton looking and listening. Stories of fortunes being made up north in Indian Territory intrigued him. His dreams of money and adventure propelled him to leave his brother's store and hop a train towards Chickasa in the Indian Territory with fifty dollars in his pocket.

Pulling to a stop in Purcell, Benton went to purchase a ticket for the remainder of the trip to Chickasa only to discover that his wallet was gone! Penniless and in a town where he knew no one, Benton was nowhere near noteworthy, memorable or even noticeable. A man of weaker resolve might have begged his way back home with his ego bruised to live a life unnoticed in the shadows of the familiar. The 23 year old son of a Mississippi farmer decided that going back was not an option.

Some might call it fate and others might call it Providence when Benton met up with a familiar face from Texas. A gentleman from down South had opened a racket store (a forerunner to the five and dime store) in Purcell and permitted Benton to set up a corner where he could fix watches. It was an opportunity.

Benton hung up a shingle proudly announcing his service.

The town of Purcell was a regular stop for trains from the North Division and the South Division. Railroads required all company watches to be inspected every fifteen days! Benton the watch repairman became a noteworthy stop for railroad employees and a business that moved out of the five and dime into a store of his own.

Within a few years a watch engraved with his name had the reputation of fine quality sought after by railroad employees.

Benton weathered severe economic times by diversifying what he offered in his store. He sold phonographs, player pianos, the first General Electric refrigerators and even cars. Even though jewelry and watch repair remained his core business, it became known that this father of six was resourceful and determined. It was his good business sense in responding to the needs of his market and his creative solutions that kept his business growing while many others shuttered their doors.

Benton's commitment to customer service, superior quality, resourceful and entrepreneurial spirit engraved his name in the territory we now call Oklahoma. A memorable and noteworthy business. A true American success story. Most people do not know this old family story when they pass by one of three jewelry stores that bear Benton's name in Oklahoma City today. Most shoppers are unaware that the fine store was the idea of a Mississippi farm boy.

Ask anyone on the streets of Oklahoma City about Benton Clyde Clark the jeweler and you might get a puzzled look in return. "You mean B. C. Clark?" followed by a warm smile.

B. C. Clark, the business that is known for it's Christmas jingle. A jingle so familiar and so endearing to Oklahoma that Christmas would not be Christmas without it. A jingle that has been sung every year since 1956.

I bet you'd like to hear it for yourself . . . the jingle that is so noteworthy, so memorable, so noticed that young and old alike sing it with a smile on their faces . . .

The familiar jingle

Made famous on Jay Leno

Danced to

Played by

Sung by

And Sung by

Noteworthy. Memorable. Noticed.

Fine tuning one advertising approach . . .

I believe that relationships in business are one of the pillars for ongoing growing success.

So I listen and read and watch and learn from others especially when it comes to the topic of "how I got to where I am at today." Success stories.

Have you ever noticed in these stories how often it is the smallest of gestures that make a world of difference? A handshake using both hands instead of just one. A hand-written note. An actual friendly phone call. A real deal smile. Looking someone in the eye. Making sure your shoes are clean.

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Here is a little story that may help you in some way. But before I tell you I have to let you in on a secret: I do not take kindly to salespeople who call my office and ask to speak with the owner/manager/person in charge of whatever. I do not like to be interrupted by the guy who walks past the No Solicitors sign on the door to sell me steaks/art/office supplies/phone services/etc. I admittedly am a hard guy to sell unless you know me and know what causes me to listen to you.

You also need to know that the shortest distance in my world is the distance between the direct mail advertising piece in my hand and the trash can. Save your money.

I suspect I am not the only guy who thinks like this. Someone did have the idea of the No Solicitor sign and sold it to untold businesses. Someone did have the idea of the No Call List and millions have put their name and number on the list. There is a reason receptionists are known as gatekeepers.

So what's a small business guy to do to get the word out in an effective relationship-building way? This question is always percolating in the back of my mind. Now I will tell you my story.

I wanted to get the word out to a particular industry about my business coaching services. I stared at the letter in front of me and imagined being the recipient. What would make ME short circuit the shortest distance to the trash can, open the letter and actually read it?

With my eyes closed I imagined it must be like speed dating. Sitting across the table from a total stranger in a room filled with other people trying to accomplish the same thing and initiating a conversation that could lead to a relationship and do it all in the first few seconds.

Epiphany Number 1: I always look twice at a hand addressed letter. I always look at it, turn it over, examine the return address . . . and ALWAYS open it.

• Action plan: I will not use labels on this mailing. It's going to take a little more time and more effort (you should see my handwriting). But I will hand address these letters. (Ever get one of those direct mail pieces with the computerized hand writing? Does someone out there really think I don't notice that?)

Epiphany Number 2: If my name is misspelled on the letter, I automatically suspect the intentions.

• Action plan: I will have to verify the correct spelling of the recipient's name. It's going to take a little more time and effort but I will find out if I have the correct spelling. Thank you internet!

Epiphany Number 3: If I open the envelope and discover a form letter I will look at what the greeting line and the signature. If the greeting line is wrong and the signature is imprinted the sender just found my express lane to the trash can.

• Action plan: I will have the proper greeting* and personally sign each letter with a blue ball point pen.

Epiphany Number 4: The proper greeting! (Rabbit trail: Since I already admitted to being a tough sell I have a pet peeve about servers in a restaurant who call me by my first name only at the end of the meal after they have gotten my credit card. "Oh, do I know you? Where do you get off calling me by my first name without a proper introduction?" My wife thinks I should audition for a part in Even Grumpier Old Men.)

I did some research to learn the proper greeting line for a letter. I promptly learned all the ways a greeting  should NOT be written. And discovered that there is really only ONE way to begin a letter. Just one proper way! Curiously enough it is exactly how I would want to be addressed by a total stranger who wants to win the right to tell me about his company. Brilliant!

The only proper way to begin a letter to someone you do not know yet is . . . Title Surname. No first names. No mispelled names. No "To Whom It May Concern." No Sir or Ma'am (Madam? Really?). No first names at all. No abbreviations or just initials. Mr. Furst to you if we haven't met yet and you want to win the right to have me listen to you.

• Action plan: I will research and find out the person this letter should go to and begin my letter to this individual with "Dear Mr. Smith," "Dear Mrs. White," "Dear Miss Jones," and only "Dear Ms. Era" if I learn that is her preference. Until I know the proper title, I will not send the letter.

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I believe that relationships in business are one of the pillars for ongoing growing success. In a relationship the first few seconds can determine whether or not there are subsequent seconds, minutes, hours, or a lifelong business relationship that is mutually beneficial.
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ROI might make you think the time and effort to discover a proper greeting is inefficient for a mass mailing. What is the true value of relationship vs. ROI in your business?