Heart Language

My posts this week are looking at the methods of Jesus as they might apply to the business of selling. Yesterday we took at look at some material from Jeff Medefind and Erik Lokkesmoe’s book The Revolutionary Communicator. I’m going to do the same today.

Medefind and Lokkesmoe suggest that each of us holds a unique heart language. These are activities, symbols, and even objects in which we find special pleasure and delight. Sometimes a heart language is a literal language like Spanish or French. If you’ve ever seen an immigrant light up when hearing their native tongue you know exactly what I’m talking about. Law enforcement officers report that the heart language of young gang members is respect. If you are into sports you understand that each one has it’s own unique language that allows for insider communication. Most all professions have a unique language. If you’ve shopped for a computer you are probably aware that techie type people have a language.

Jesus used language that was pregnant with the language of his culture. Although he was a builder by trade, only a handful of examples came from the building trade. Instead, the bulk were drawn from the daily labors of the farmers, fisherman, and homemakers who filled his audience.

Advertising giant David Olgilvy once said, “If you are trying to persuade people to do something, or buy something, it seems to me you should use their language, the language in which they think.” I have seen this over and over again in my selling work the last 15 years. Your ability to learn and speak the language of your customer is foundational to Servant Selling.