Are we using the correct words that can trigger emotions to buy or to own or possess our products in the minds of our potential customers?

I was at the upmarket Berjaya Times Square shopping complex in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia last Sunday. Nestled near the famous Petronas Twin Towers, until recently the tallest building in the world, and in the golden triangle of the capital city, Kuala Lumpur, this shopping center is a hub of activity, with throes of shoppers on an early sunday, some probably just after their sunday worship at the church nearby.

I had time to spare, and was, like many other shoppers, just browsing around...until my eye caught the words "Nature's Farm" on the signboard of one of the many shops. Now, Nature Farm is a good shop for anything herbal and supplements and natural products, as we all know.

Greeted cherrily by the salesgirl with a smile, I asked whether they have stock of the vitamin "Naicin", and was delighted when the salesgirl said "Yes!", and showed me the product.

The shop had a good layout, and it was pleasant to browse around the shop...a congenial, conducive atmosphere to buy something.

The salesgirl was reading from a brochure on the benefits of the vitamin Naicin, and volunteered to tell me that it was more for "those people with diabetes", and wanted to control their blood glucose or sugar.

That information disturbed me somewhat, because while the supplement Naicin does help in glucose control, I was following a program of using Naicin for reducing cholesterol together with Oatbran. Those comments from the salesgirl started to raise "alarms" in my mind, and more questions as this was moving into an area where the usage of the product was not directed towards my purpose. I was surprised that the salesgirl did not try to find out why I wanted to buy that product, choosing to shoot in the dark to volunteer information that was not pertintent to my purpose.

While volunteered information from the salesgirl bothered me somewhat, it was not "fatal" enough for me to decide not to buy.

"How much would a bottle of this Naicin cost?", I asked. "Only $22.80..and you can only qualify for a discount of 10% if you are our member", she replied.

Now, I was prepared to pay $22.80 for a bottle of Naicin, but it was disturbing for me to know that I would need to pay another 10% more simply because I was not a member of the shop, and worse, the salesgirl did not volunteer information to invite me to join as a member.

Information from sales personel that are not designed to help them sell can turn potential well meaning customers off in a whiff of a second and can cause a sale to be derailed.

Immediately, I put my wallet back into my pocket.

It would even be better off for the salesgirl not to volunteer information that I could get 10% discount if she was not prepared to continue to volunteer more information or to invite me to join as a member.

Very often, we commit the same mistake when we promote our products or services online. We use the wrong trigger words that can derail our promotion, or we stop short of giving out complete information that can assist our campaigns. It just does not make sense that the very attraction of an offer of a discount to members is not well promoted, and in fact, the word "discount"is turned into a trigger word that turns potential customers off rather than motivating a potential customer to buy.

On your next promotion or campaign, be meticulous on your sales copy and ensure you have postive trigger words that encourage and motivate sales rather than turn off your potential clients.