How to Use "Upwords" to Increase Response

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by Michel Fortin

I once took a media communications course in which I discovered an interesting example of the way the mind works. As part of a given lesson, a videotape was shown of a televised newscast during which a journalist was about to give a live report on a forest fire that was devastating the Midwest. The news anchor in the television newsroom said, "We now take you to Sally Smith; she is in the station's helicopter flying above the scene of the fire."

He then turned to the background screen, which gave a live bird's-eye view of the raging fire, and asked: "Sally, tell us. How big is the fire?" In a voice partially drowned by the whizzing sound of helicopter blades, Sally reports: "John, it's so big, it's covering well over 140 acres of land -- that's about 200 football fields back-to-back."

You Ought to Be in Pictures
As you can sense from the above example, people think in pictures. The mind does not think in words, letters, or numbers -- unless it is told to do exactly that. The mind is a very simple organ and it hates confusion. It will naturally translate words or phrases into their visual equivalent. For instance, if I told you to think of a garbage can, you're not going to think "G-A-R-B-A-G-E." You will automatically visualize some sort of garbage can.

Why do you think Microsoft Windows and the Macintosh computer dominate the marketplace in computer operating systems? It is because, rather than having to type in an elaborate command for your computer to execute, you can simply use your mouse, point to an icon (a picture representing the command), and click. These icons basically contain a string of numerous commands that are translated in a language the computer understands.

In reality, what the icon does is translate a visual symbol into a series of codes and commands that only the computer understands. Our mind works in almost the same way. It translates -- in a matter of an instant -- what is being said or read into something it can easily understand.

What I call UPWORDS are very effective in any conversation, sales call, or written message in that they simply help the message to be better understood and appreciated. It is Mark Twain who once said that "numbers don't stick in the mind; pictures do." The word "upwords" is actually an acronym that stands for universal picture words or relatively descriptive sentences. In other words, upwords are examples, analogies, metaphors, symbols, picture words, common phrases, colloquialisms, and so on.

Use "Upwords" to Move Upwards
For example, the biggest challenge among cosmetic surgeons is the fact that people will call for a price quote over the phone when obviously the doctor needs to see the patient beforehand. Since cosmetic surgery is an uncommon process, doctors will often use the more common dental work as an analogy -- people rarely undergo cosmetic surgery but most of them have had their teeth done at some point in their lives. So, doctors will say, "Have you ever called a dentist for an estimate over the phone without any x-rays of your teeth or the knowledge of how many cavities you actually have?"

Beauticians usually face the same problem. Since many customers tend to shop around, then making a decision based on price alone can be detrimental to both the consumer and the business. So, using art as an analogy, beauticians will say: "A makeover is a makeover just like a painting is a painting, but there's quite a difference between a Rembrandt and a preschooler's finger-painting."

If you're a computer programmer trying to sell your services to the plant manager of a farm equipment manufacturer, and in your presentation you provide complex technical data in abstract computer "techno-ese," you will obviously do very poorly. You must therefore mold your message in a way that it can be easily understood by farmers or plant workers.

We all come from different backgrounds. Our education, experiences, and upbringing help to condition our thinking -- and so our minds. Therefore, use analogies, metaphors, and picture words in your presentation that will make your message easier to understand by the other's personal set of circumstances. As Jack Trout once said, "A word is worth a thousand pictures."