Language of Commitment™ Training Programs ©

The Power of Language...

Dan Molloy & Dr. Fernando Flores

In the early 80's, I was introduced to Fernando Flores at a communication workshop in New York City. I was immediately intrigued by his approach to language and communication as they relate to the way we show up in our personal and business lives. Prior to Fernando, I thought I was a good sales and marketing person... but most of what I did was "hit or miss". You know, throw enough on the wall and some will stick... which is typical behavior for most sales people. But before I get into my narrative let me explain a little bit about the background of Fernando Flores.

At the age of 29, Mr. Flores was the Economics and Finance Minister for the country of Chile and a cabinet member of Chilean President, Salvador Allende. He was taken political prisoner after the 1973 military coup, spent three years in prison, faced a firing squad and somehow made it out alive. He was eventually freed by Amnesty International and moved to the United States where he earned a doctorate at the University of California, and wrote several books; to check them out... CLICK HERE.

In 1986, Fernando offered a course called Ontological Design which was a three year study program designed to immerse students in a "new discourse" with the promise that they would become more effective in day to day living. For me, part of that was becoming more effective in creating wealth and generating more sales revenue. Reflecting now [15 years later], I describe my experience as follows:

When I enter into a conversation with someone, I respect the fact that as humans we are "trapped" by a historical discourse into which we were born. In order to communicate effectively we need to create openings with others so that they can hear what we say. Sales people need to show up as a new possibility for the prospect. Fernando might say something like, "with customers I need to create a "breakdown" or an "interruption" in their daily life (historical conversation) so that they can begin to hear my offer and take me seriously".

Effective marketing and advertising programs do this very well. In addition to the notion of "our historical nature", Fernando presented a communications model called the "Exchange Conversation of Commerce" which set forth the premise that commerce shows up in a dance of language and that there are very specific dance moves. Communications leading to a successful commercial transaction usually include offers, counter offers, requests, promises, assertions and declarations woven together to form a Conversation for Relatedness (CFR) and a Conversation for Action (CFA). Prior to my studies with Fernando, I had no rigor with regard to entering a commercial dialogue. It was hit or miss... [You see this today when sales people try to "jam" you with their sales offers and there is no real "human" dialogue.]

Experience over 30 years tells me that "Mis-Trust" between buyer and seller is rooted in the lack of rigor with language and a lack of respect for each other. Creating the context for a long term business relationship occurs in language and also in action, but language must be the foundation. Today, prospective clients call us on the phone or send us an e-mail and we turn them away by creating mistrust, because we are not skilled in the "dance of commerce".

With respect to business today, my observation is this, "Language in the business world is broken. There is little rigor and lots of mistrust. Business people have forgotten how to give and keep their word... and do not know how to speak with intentionality about the future. Additionally they have forgotten what real commitment is all about. Customers show up expecting to get screwed and many times they feel that they were right about that".

"We show up as a NEW OPPORTUNITY for your sales staff by offering a fresh [new] linguistic approach to sales." People begin to sell more and have more fun almost immediately. They begin to talk powerfully about who they are and what they do. We ensure that the shift is permanent through a monthly process of "follow-up, measurement and coaching". We do it on the phone and each client retrieves results from a private web page.

Fernando Flores returned to Chile in the late 90's and was elected to the Chilean Senate... among other projects, he helped to improve the educational system there. Dan Molloy

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