The Power of Incomprehensible Words: How They Are Used to Sell Products and Services

The trick is old. Someone who wants to sell something starts with use incomprehensible words supposedly technical, overwhelming. Words that leave whoever listens to them somewhat dwarfed, willing to be fooled by that vocabulary that appears to have superlative knowledge of whoever uses it. And that at the same time subliminally conveys to the client the idea that he is ignorant of the matter and should not question what the bidder tells him, but accept it with humility and without question.

That explains why people willingly buy refrigerators with multi air flow and compressor inverter, with drawer chiller box, endowed with auto sense and of pannel full touch and technology protect. And televisions equipped with quantum dot display and of peak illuminator pro, plus sound with subwoofer wireless and HDMI BT connections multiroom. As they say on Twitter, “it doesn’t matter when you read this.”

We corroborate this with the following announcement from Panasonic: “Nothing less than the new NV-FS 90 with 4 heads that has high-fidelity NICAM stereo sound and has Jog & Shuttle and an insert editing system.” It all seems very modern, right?: the latest cry, an announcement from yesterday. Well, he is over 23 years old! Words that don’t tell us anything serve the same for then as for now. Just because They mean something: that the client has no idea, that the one who knows everything is the one who sells. And that you have to trust him blindfolded.

They used this trick politicians and publicists. Later the computer scientists arrived, and the boiler technician, and the friend who pretends to be an expert in something… And lately we have also suffered from it when dealing with the bank.

Some bank employees were already talking to us about “opening” an account and things like that, to give themselves importance. Now, perhaps urged by demanding commercial objectives, before any management they urge us to sign an advisory contract beforehand. And often they present it incorrectly as mandatory for any procedure, even if it is a simple transfer of the account from one branch to another. And if the client asks why he should sign that contract before executing something so simple, they will tell him that it is a European regulation. “What regulations?” Oops, the customer has come out answering (well, actually he has come out asking). And the employee may reply: “It’s the MIFI directive.” At that point most people are supposed to shut up. But that’s when you have to come up with: “MIFI Directive? And what do those acronyms mean? “Oh, I don’t know”, they will answer perhaps. (Well, boy, does the advice start off well).

The directive is actually called MIFID (Markets in Financial Instruments Directive, or directive on financial market instruments), and does not oblige the user to do anything, but the bank in certain cases of investments when the client intends to undertake them. But of course, with these incomprehensible acronyms, so incomprehensible that not even who pronounces them understands them, the overwhelming effect is produced before the humble current account holder whose economic situation is not exactly suitable for investing in the futures markets but, at best, for managing a simple income and expense operation and without any need to delve into the P2000, PVI or Unit Linked savings insurance or the Sicavi or Sustainable Global Thematic Portfolio funds.

When a salesperson, manager or technician calls you an intimidating word, ask yourself: “And what does that mean?” Sometimes you will see them sweat to explain it.

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