Turn weak language into powerful language
Are you a victim of Weak Speak? Do your words betray you?
If you’ve ever wondered why your employees don’t follow your lead or why your ideas are never accepted, here’s an idea. You may be telling people that their ideas are not important. It’s not enough to have confident body language and a strong voice if your words are weak.
You are minimizing yourself when you say: “This is just a thought”, “I’m just a beginner”, “I would like to make a suggestion”.
Weak words like hopefully suggest, feel, might, sort of, I think weaken your conviction. Imagine a salesperson saying:
“Hopefully, I’ve shown him that if he buys from us, he may be able to increase his income.” The potential buyer will walk away on hearing this type of message. The real message is “Don’t buy from me. I don’t believe what I’m saying.”
Weak speech consists of catchphrases, weak words, slang, apologies, minimizers, colorless words, and sloppy speech.
This is what you can do:
Labels. remove them Taglines are added to the end of a statement. Phrases like “Don’t you think?” “It is not like this?” “Good?” It will sound like you are asking for permission.
weak words. Substitute power words instead.
I feel like I know
i think i’m sure
if when, by
Suggest Recommend
something like that
I could definitely do it
Problem-Challenge
worried worried
sharediscussion
Jargon. Spell it. By adding buzzwords or acronyms to your presentation, you risk losing some or all of your audience. Define terms and don’t assume they understand your verbal shorthand.
Apologies. Skip them. Don’t apologize or belittle yourself. Overusing the word “sorry” will make you sound weak.
Minimizers. Delete the. Using “only” and “only” will tell the listener that you are less than something. Don’t minimize yourself or your message.
Words without color Paint a word picture. You won’t move people to action if your words are dry. Season your talk with metaphors, analogies, and alliteration.
careless speech. Speak slowly and carefully. Murmuring, slurred speech and slurred speech create a negative impression and are difficult to understand. Record yourself and practice mock sentences.
Tune in and listen to your language. By transforming your words, you’ll increase your credibility, take ownership, and sell your ideas.
Copyright Diane DiResta 2000. All rights reserved.
