“If you can’t state your position in eight words or less, you don’t have a position.”

– Seth Godin

It is difficult to be brief. Try it! State your opinion in a few words as possible. How do you explain your business or service to a total stranger in just a few words – words that the stranger can easily understand? It is a tough task, isn’t it? And yet, increasingly that is what we have to do to retain current customers and to attract new ones. To be noticed – to stand out from the crowd – to move people to take action we must master the art of brevity.

One of the best business summaries I know came from Charles Revson, the founder of Revlon Cosmetics. He said:

“In the factory we make cosmetics, in the store we sell hope.”

Brilliant! All in twelve words. And they are the “right words” because they work. The listener can clearly understand the process and visualize the outcome. The outcome for each customer will be unique because each will define “hope” in their own way.

Will that “hope” renew, revitalize, rejuvenate, restore, rekindle or reinvent? Each customer will choose one or more of these answers – and probably one or more of Revlon’s cosmetics. Being brief, concise and “on-target” has a real payoff.

A few days ago, I wrote an article titled, “The Long and the Short of It.” I commented on the enjoyment and benefit I got from a new book by Dr. Frank Luntz – “Words that Work: It’s Not What You Say, It’s What People Hear.” Buy this book! Put it’s principles into practice. Reap the rewards! “Renew, revitalize, rejuvenate, rekindle, reinvent” is one of Luntz’s “Twenty-one words and phrases for the Twenty-first Century.” They work.

How am I planning to put this principle into practice? Follow this scenario: Continue reading “Communicate Effectively and Quickly” »