Magic Words: What to Say to Get Your Way

“Magic Words: What to Say to Get Your Way” by Jonah Berger explains how using the right words at the right time can deepen your influence, improve how others comprehend what you have to say, and make it more likely that they will do what you want.

By the author’s account much of the art of persuasion lies in the art of choosing the right word. Want to jump ahead of others waiting in line requires the art of using words effectively. If you want someone to do your copying for you then change your verbs to nouns: not “Can you help me?” but “Can you be a helper?”

As Jonah Berger notes, there is a subtle psychological shift at play when a person becomes not a mere instrument in helping but instead acquires an identity as a helper. It’s the little things, one supposes, and the author offers some interesting strategies that eager readers will want to try out. Instead of alienating a listener with the omniscient should, as in “You should do this,” try could instead: “Well, you could…” induces all concerned “to recognize that there might be other possibilities.”

“Magic Words” by was the fastest selling book at #CRMC2023 ! If you didn’t grab a copy, you can find it online! Our keynote speaker @j1berger was a powerhouse full of insights & humor. Already looking forward to next year! https://t.co/CqMSrGTWoi pic.twitter.com/fg9KVtUwYR

— CRMCRetail (@CRMCRetail) June 23, 2023

The author’s counsel that one should use abstractions contradicts his admonition to use concrete language, and it doesn’t help matters to say that each is appropriate to a particular situation, while grammarians will wince at his suggestion that a nerve-calming exercise to “try talking to yourself in the third person (‘You can do it!’)” in fact invokes the second person. Still, there are plenty of useful insights, particularly for students of advertising and public speaking.

It’s intriguing to note that appeals to God are less effective in securing a loan than a simple affirmative such as “I pay all bills…on time”), and it’s helpful to keep in mind that “the right words used at the right time can have immense power.”

The book does not answer all questions but is nonetheless it is appealing.