We need to make the abstract concrete. Whether talking to colleagues or clients, students or sales reps, patients or program managers, we need to take abstract ideas and make them real by using concrete language. Helping people understand, and act on, what we’re saying.
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Three ways to apply it are to: (1) make people feel heard, (2) make the abstract concrete, and (3) know when it’s better to be abstract.
Using concrete language significantly increased customer satisfaction.
Rather than focusing on one niche, abstract language makes the market seem widespread. And given that larger growth potential, a company seems like a much more promising investment.
Consequently, whether it’s better to use concrete or abstract language depends on the outcome we’re trying to achieve. Want to help people understand a complex idea, feel heard, or remember what was said? Using concrete language is going to be more effective.
More generally, when trying to make language either more concrete or more abstract, one helpful approach is to focus on either the how or the why.
Want to be more concrete? Focus on the how. How does a product meet consumer needs? How does a proposed new initiative address an important problem? Thinking about how something is or will be done encourages concreteness. It focuses on the feasibility and helps generate concrete descriptions.
Want to be more abstract? Focus on the why. Why does a product meet consumer needs? Why does a proposed new initiative address an important problem? Thinking about why something is good or right encourages abstractness. It focuses on its desirability and helps generate abstract descriptions.
Consequently, we need to harness the power of linguistic concreteness.
- Make people feel heard. Want to show someone you’re listening? Be concrete. Give specific details that show we paid attention and understood.
- Be concrete. Don’t just pick things that sound good, use words that listeners can see in their minds. It’s a lot easier to imagine a red sportscar than ideation.
- Focus on the How. Thinking about the nuts and bolts of how something will happen, and focusing on specific actions, makes things concrete.
But while concrete language is often useful, if our goal is to come off as powerful, or make something seem like it has growth potential, using abstract language is better. In those cases:
- Focus on the why. Thinking about the reasoning behind something helps things stay high level and communicate that big picture.