100 How to Sell Yourself
- “We’re not killing and maiming.”
- “We’re not ripping off the customer.”
- “We’re not cheating the kids.”
- “It’s not a risky tax scheme.”
Don’t be caught in the trap
The confronter has planted a weed. Your job is to pull out the
weed by the roots. But the wrong answer, one that repeats the
buzzword and denies the accusation, waters the weed.
At my first training program for the American Library Asso-
ciation, I asked a competent young library director, “Why do you
distribute smut?” She was startled and asked, “Smut?” I snarled,
“Smut!” She replied, “We don’t distribute smut.” Many of the
librarians in the audience came up to me afterward and said,
“You’re absolutely right. All I could remember from your time
with her was ‘smut.’”
The lethal buzzword
The power of the buzzword was never more aptly demonstrated
to me than one night while watching a tabloid TV show. It was one
of the many stepchildren of 60 Minutes. The segment I saw was
titled “Killer Trucks.” The script never used the word truck with-
out the antecedent killer. So, I heard “killer trucks” over and over
again. As they came to the end of the segment, the voice-over
went silent. On came a series of fast-cut photos of trucks that had
demolished other wheeled vehicles: baby carriages, tricycles, wag-
ons, bicycles, motorcycles, cars, vans, SUVs, other trucks. The
soundtrack was a quiet country musician with guitar accompani-
ment singing:
There’s a killer on the road.
There’s a killer on the road.
There’s a killer, killer, killer, killer, killer, killer, killer.
There’s a killer on the road.The screen went blank. Silence. Episode over.
I’m reluctant to admit it, but the next time I was driving on
the interstate and looked in my rearview mirror and saw an 18-
wheeler coming up fast behind me, I broke into a cold sweat.
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