”Hi, would it ruin your evening if I sold you something?”
This was the question a telemarketer asked Ulla Jones, host of Lähtijät podcast. She shared her experience on LinkedIn, delighted by the different and disarming opening line of the young telemarketer. And it sure stands out!
This opening also has a secret ingredient that makes it particularly good. It’s what’s called speaking green (talking about you): “would it ruin your evening?”
When I became an entrepreneur eight years ago, I received an infernal amount of phone calls from telemarketers. Back then, I wrote an article about how much nicer it would be to answer these calls if the callers were speaking greener. However, everything has stayed the same. The calls keep coming, and the telemarketer launches into their own pitch from the get-go. Green talk shines by its absence.
But what does it mean to speak green?
The term speaking green is from Esteve Pannetier’s TEDx speech about the Green, Blue, Red Movement. The the Green, Blue, Red Movement is a framework for influential interaction that studies how much the speaker talks about me (blue), how much they talk about you (green) and how much they talk about us (red).
Speaker and speech coach John Zimmer also mentions these three pronouns (you, I, we) as one basis for building a presentation. He emphasises that the speaker should concretely use these pronouns and think about what they can communicate by using them.
The colour doesn’t come from just the pronoun
It’s important to notice that the pronoun alone doesn’t determine what colour the speech is. Pannetier says that the Green, Blue, Red Movement defines speaking blue as informing, speaking green as empathy and speaking red as shared action. This is an important distinction because we can seem to speak green even though we’re actually firmly on blue or red ground. For example, the talk notes that, ”Follow me, I have a plan” is a red sentence (even though the pronoun is I).
I think that the same sentence can be green, blue or red depending on context. For example, “You want to buy an ecological ink cartridge.” At first glance, it seems green because the pronoun is you. However, it can be anything:
- Green: If I’ve just talked to you about my printing and ink cartridge needs and have told you that environmental issues are important to me, then this sentence might well be green. You’re summarising something that you’ve heard me say.
- Blue: If you’re pitching ecological ink cartridges to me, you might claim, without knowing me at all, that I want to buy one. You’re trying to guide me towards your agenda and aren’t at all interested about whether the sentence is actually true or not.
- Red: If the call is about to end in a sale, and you’re making sure that I truly want to buy your ecological ink cartridge, this sentence may direct towards shared action and take us closer to the sale.
If a leader is droning on at the personnel about “how you’ve suffered these last few months” or “this victory must feel great to you”, but the personnel doesn’t share these experiences, these don’t feel like talking green. That’s why speaking green has to include empathy and genuinely putting yourself in the other person’s position.
How much of me, you and us?
According to Pannetier, influential speakers speak 70 % green, 25 % blue and only 5 % red. So over two thirds are spent talking about other people or the audience, their needs, challenges and beliefs. About one fourth can be spent on the speaker, their merits, views and opinions. Only five percent should go to shared talk, our goals, values and challenges.
I think that the ratio is very rarely exactly this – and in some cases, it can’t be. However, what seems to be the problem with all communications is the absence of speaking green. You, the audience, the recipient gets forgotten and the focus is far too much on me and my agenda.
By adding even a hint of green, even one sentence, you can make the end result very different. Like Jones’s story shows us.
TL;DR Communication doesn’t fail due to phrasing but due to the focus of attention
- Focusing on the recipient makes communications (and telemarketing) different and disarming.
- The Green, Blue, Red Movement studies how much the speaker speaks about me (blue), how much about you (green) and how much about us (red).
- Speaking blue is informing, speaking green is empathy and speaking red is shared action.
- The same sentence can be green, blue or red depending on context.
- For influential speakers, the ratio is 70 % speaking green, 25 % blue and only 5 % red.
- Speaking green (that is, focusing on the recipient or the audience) should be more common in nearly all communications.