‘Rhetoric’, Aristotle.

On the advice of the wisest: whom to speak to, how, and when—so as to be heard. Look at them, where they're going!

VSP specializes in instrumentation products for control and instrumentation systems. It’s already for 28 years we have been doing this. And since 2022, having restructured the entire company operation with account of the new reality of doing business with Western European suppliers, who quickly turned into former partners, instrumentation products have become a key and only vector of development for VSP. In short, we can describe our task as follows: to provide the customer with a solution that fully meets the project requirements. And to get there within the frame of the relevant work a number of different activities are implied—from marketing (which ‘studies’ where, what, whom to, and how much) to customer support at the post-warranty stage. Between these extreme points the ‘sell’ task is somewhere written in. After all you have ‘to sell’ the product to the customer so that there is something ‘to support’ later. And selling can also be described as a communication chain of interaction between the seller and the consumer. OK, to sell something you need to be able to properly deliver your idea to the customer—to the consumer, client, customer, or end user... whatever the name: what the product is, which way it is different, and why it is better than the other one. So in our logical reasoning we have arrived at the expediency of studying the work of one of the pillars of philosophy, Aristotle’s ‘Rhetoric’.

Is it really so important to possess of high skills of rhetoric—the ability to carry on a well reasoned dialogue with a particular audience? One of the big-names in sales technique—SPIN—suggests that these skills are not that important at all. The consumer supposedly makes a decision based on a substantive analysis of all the components of the offer by researching the competitive market. We're not selling kitchen knives in a subway, after all! In the so-called short selling it is required to be the most convincing manipulator of the consciousness of a (unlucky, unfortunate, any odd) passerby. A poor presentation even of a very good product will not necessarily lead to a complete failure, and indeed—excellent product marketing does not always result in ‘closing the deal’. So, apparently we arrive at a simple conclusion—success is a sum of factors. There’s the rub! What a profound consideration!

It certainly adds up to the fact that all the skills and stages are important for sure. The ability to competently and professionally hold a conversation with the customer is not the least important tool of the seller.

Like, perhaps, any mind-bending work by a particularly abstruse person—I would have thought one may describe the ancient Greek philosopher that way—‘Rhetoric’ should be read and studied with some patience. This is especially true of our time of ‘quick’ and ‘strong and precise’ thoughts (this way, being polite, let's describe the common manner of presenting thoughts by some of our contemporaries).
Thoughts a paragraph long, shimmering with logical curls; endless chains of examples, sometimes only confusing and complicating the understanding of the subject even more; introductory several dozen pages long… But all the efforts to get through hardships to the stars (‘per aspera ad astra’), all this is not in vain: ‘Rhetoric’—is another ‘building block’ in the skills of specialists, sometimes imperceptibly generating a new and next level of conducting a competent dialogue with the consumer.

We are definitely ready to recommend this work to get acquainted with. This book is at least interesting from the point of view of clarity of the author's presentation of ideas, and it seems to contain a number of accurate, useful and universal tips (not only for sellers and marketing experts) for those of us who seek to conduct a dialogue with our ‘counterpart’—either starting with small talk or speaking in front of an audience—at the level of masters whose names have become common names.

Here are just a few but great quotes.

‘Of the modes of persuasion furnished by the spoken word there are three kinds. The first kind depends on the personal character of the speaker; the second on putting the audience into a certain frame of mind; the third on the proof, provided by the words of the speech itself.’

‘It is not sufficient to know what one ought to say, but one must also know how to say it.’

‘You must disguise your art and give the impression of speaking naturally and not artificially.
…generally speaking, that which is true and better is naturally always easier to prove and more likely to persuade.’

‘Four reasons contributing to the coldness of style: 1) the use of complex words, 2) unusual expressions, 3) improper use of epithets, 4) the use of inappropriate metaphors.’

Interesting and useful read to all!
And of course, wish you every success!

2025-03-13 12:08 EP Impressions