Welcome to Smart Start À La Carte. This is your à la carte path to linguistic excellence. Each edition includes delicious nutritious ways to make an impression. Some are simple specific spoon-fed examples that you can slide into your daily dialog. Some are a description or definition of a pattern, concept or category of persuasive communication with an example, of course.
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Subordinate Clauses of Time/Presupposition | “Before”: I was just thinking, when I woke up, that before I wrote this post, I should flip through my Google Reader and get that that out of the way since I do that for a finite period of time (15 min.) vs. writing a post, which is not a set period of time.
You are reading how far I got with that. But, before I bash myself entirely, I will say that I often use “before” when setting an appointment, e.g. “Before you make a decision, let’s get together and compare apples to apples…”
I use “before” when presenting, e.g. “…when before this came out, it was like pulling teeth just to get your customers in the door, now, with this widget, they’ll be lining up at the door like Black Friday at Wal-Mart!” and “Before you decide to buy it, let’s take a closer look at how it fits your needs and actually gets you excited about using it.”
And, of course, use “before” when assuming the sale, e.g. “Before you put pen to paper, let’s just reconfirm that this is the right thing for you so that you’ll have made the right decision and 3 years from now when your business will have doubled, you’ll think back and remember this moment as the start of it all.” and “Before I leave today with the paperwork in hand, I just want to…” You get the picture.
Some people say, “I could never say that.” But, before you jump to conclusions. Your business’ conclusion. Let me just say that your customers are thinking about the steps they need to take and the things they need to do, before making a decision. So, you better pace yourself into the picture. “Pace” intended.
So, next time, before you think you don’t need to place yourself in the customers mind while they’re making the decision, just remember, they’ll be doing this naturally, with or without you.
Then use it,… before your competition does!
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Before I refuse to take your questions, I have an opening statement. -Ronald Reagan #presupposition #humor
I am the greatest, I said that even before I knew I was. -Muhammad Ali
Photo Credit: 
By cdw9 Chrissy Wainwright on Flickr
