There are so many “experts” in the world today—people from every angle and media source. They are friends, clients, vendors, family, talking heads on TV, bleeps on Twitter, posts on Facebook and on and on…

Every once in a while it’s good to dial the noise back and ask the question: “Which voices should I let through and listen to…?” Here are my answers to that question, at least for the moment. I guess I should add that some of these voices are as much guilty pleasures as they are credible sources…

Tim Ferris, author of The Four Hour Work Week. His blog, which can be found at fourhourworkweek.com/blog, is awesome, and he’s also on Twitter (@tferriss), teaching you how to survive around the world as a gypsy and increase your overall productivity, guerrilla-style.

Jennifer Palus of Palus Business Consulting. Smart, bitchy (her word), and insightful, just like her blog at palusbusinessconsulting.blogspot.com.

Gretel Going, partner at Channel V Media. I talk to her about 10 times per week on all things digital/PR/Marketing/fashion, but the easier way (and cheaper for you) to get her information is to follow her on Twitter at @gretelgoing, or read the CVM blog, “CVMonologues.”

Steve Hershberger of ComBlu. Steve handles social media strategy for companies such as MicroSoft, Wal-Mart, and Coca-Cola to name a few. He’s a huge brain, snappy dresser…gotta like him. Find him on twitter at @sthersh, and read his blog at http://lumenatti.comblu.com/blogs/lumenatti

Jill Konrath. One of the voices talking about large sales I listen to and highly respect highly, Jill wrote “Selling to Big Companies” Catch her on Twitter at jillkonrath and over at her blog, Selling to Big Companies.

Fox News. Fair and balanced? Well… Anyway, I find great comedy in the reporting of the news and the manufactured drama between the hosts…

Jon Stewart of Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show.” I find every so often people who do not watch this show–usually strong Republicans–find the commentary to liberal. But in the words of Larry the Cable Guy, “I don’t care who you are, that’s funny stuff right there…”

Stephen Colbert. Host of Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report” and author of the book I am America, and So Can You!. Follow him on Twitter: @StephenColbert.

Who are you listening to? What are the voices in your head?

*A small town in southern Indiana. What did you think I meant?

The power of words…

Grab attention, communicate an idea, provoke, engage, energize… If you hunt large sales, you know that the turn of a phrase or the capturing of a concept hinge on powerful words. I just read Frank Luntz’ article “Words That Pack Power” in the November 3rd issue of BusinessWeek. He picks out five words from the executive lexicon that should be used regularly in the current business world…

* Consequences – Use it and the listener thinks that good or bad, it is about them
* Impact – Not ‘effort’ or even ‘solutions’- these come out as intentions and people are done with good intentions
* Reliability – Luntz claims that “Value is now the sum of price plus convenience plus reliability.”
* Mission – not ‘mission statement’ which can be hollow or trite, but the intense accomplishment focus
* Commitment – the idea of making it personal to the credibility of the speaker

I have to tell you, when I read this list I was left ambivalent. I think that word-selection is vitally important. I also think word-omission is just as important. I’m just not sure that these are good enough, especially the last three. Those three are dog-eared and tired shadows of their former selves. Also, Frank did not provide a list of words that we should leave out of the executive lexicon, a list I would like to have seen. (Fortunately, David Meerman Scott wrote a whole e-book about such words and phrases: The Gobbledygook Manifesto).

So, what other words do you think make the list of ‘Power Words’ for American business? What are the words we should get rid of?

Splashing the Vessel: v. An underused euphemism for the first stage of preparation in any situation.

The Inuit washed their boat, or umiak*, with fresh water from a stream far away from their village before they launched it into the ocean to hunt the whale.

How do you get ready for the big pitches? I spent a good amount of time last week helping teams get ready for big pitches. I noticed a couple of gotta-changes worth highlighting…

The prospect has to speak first. I’m talking about after the pleasantries and introductions. If you want your pitch to be successful, I encourage you opening the meeting with a question that will get them to open up for 10 minutes. Two of my favorites are:

· “What has changed in your business/department since the last time we spoke?”

· “What’s the most important thing each of you could get out of today’s meeting?”

The key is to get them talking from the opening—loosening up and engaging. Giving a pitch for thirty to forty five minutes and then asking, “Are there any questions?” does not give you the kind of interaction you need for a win.

More time on what they’ll say. I’ve seen groups rehearse presentations for hours as if the people they’re pitching are going to be a movie audience. You have to think through this process: “What are they going to ask?” “What questions are we afraid of them asking so that we can prepare?” “If one of them grabs control, how will we get back on track?” An old poker saying is: You don’t play your cards, you play everybody else’s. To win the pitch, prepare for what they’re going to say as much as rehearsing what you will say.

One voice on issue; no add-ons. Piling on is exhausting to watch. The one-upsmanship on an answer or an issue by more than one person from your team either reiterates or over-confirms what has already been said. There is a reasonably distinct difference between amplifying for value and just adding on. In the prep, each person from your team has to have a clear role and message. Let each person own the response on at least one issue, if not more. Then everyone else, bite your tongue and don’t jump on.

This prep list is not exhaustive. What are your gotta-changes and gotta-do-thats?

*See our glossary for a list of terms we use to compare large account sales to whale hunting.

My mom always taught me- “Never talk sex, politics or religion with people…until they’ve had their second drink.”

Everyone has become a consultant in this year’s election. Constantly asking one another their opinions. People want to know what I think of the candidates as a whale hunter… AS A WHALE HUNTER! Reeeeaaalllllyyy? From that vantage point, I honestly don’t have an opinion. But, I do think about their harpoons…

Harpoon: (n) [in the whalehunting metaphor]– 1. The idea or advantage that gets the attention of your prospect and is compelling enough to hold that attention through the entire sales process.

The two pairs of candidates have similarities–inexperience, old Beltway white guys, glass-ceiling breakers, and of course, the same harpoon: “Change…and we mean it more than they do!”

No wonder it’s been a couple of decades since we had a landslide election. But back to the point, I don’t necessarily want to debate this myself (I haven’t had my second drink yet). I’d like a little help here. Whatever the “harpoon” is that has gotten your attention and will keep it through the election? Obama-Biden or McCain-Palin? I’m interested in hearing which of their harpoons work for you.