You're in the elevator and your friend John introduces youto Barbara who is the CEO of one of the companies you'dlike to do business with. Barbara asks, "What do you do?"Here is your chance to make a connection with a primemember of your target market. You want to get herattention, make a positive impression and get herinterested enough to continue the conversation. You'vegot about fifteen seconds to do this.Whether you are in the elevator, or on the Escalator manufacture phone, theway you start the conversation will determine whether ornot it will continue.
You could tell anyone what you doif you had half an hour, but with fifteen seconds you're likely to simply label yourself, as most people do.Labels don't tell us much. Imagine you told Barbara inthe elevator that you are a coach or a consultant. Areyou talking about working with high school kids, seniormanagers, or actors? Few job labels tell your audiencewho you work with. Most labels are not only vague butdon't help to prompt the conversation to continue.You could be more specific and tell your prospect you area tax accountant or an automation specialist. That gives people some idea of what you do, but still doesn'texplain why your prospect should care.Instead of using a label, you could tell your prospecthow you do your work, the processes you use. You mightsay, "We analyze light manufacturing companies toidentify areas where the addition of a programmablelogic controller could boost throughput." If sheunderstands what you are talking about, you still haven't given her a reason to contact you.Whether you are an executive coach, lawyer, accountant,or automation specialist, when you start talking aboutthe processes you use eyes glaze over and minds shutdown. While you may have developed processes that noone else uses, prospects don't car about the process,at least not initially.One of the most common mistakes people make is assumingtheir message should be about themselves. If you are inbusiness to provide services and products to clients andcustomers, your marketing message should be about theirneeds and wants. Here's the difference:- "I'm a marketing coach." (It's about me, and who reallycares?)- "I help independent professionals attract more clientsand make more money." (It's about what I do for othersand should prompt the question,
Your prospects' primary concern isn't you. They want toknow what you can do for them and how you can help themprofit, financially, physically or emotionally. They wantto know if you can solve a problem for them.To get attention with a short sentence about the problemsyou solve, you might tell Barbara you "help reducemanufacturing operating costs and increase profits". Costcontainment is a continual problem for any CEO and shouldpique her interest and prompt follow up. Stop shutting the door to new business with your marketingmessage. When people ask you what you do, avoid using alabel or a discussion of process. Instead, quickly clarifywho you help and what type of problems you solve. Onesentence should do the job.Talking about what you do in a new way takes a littlegetting used to. The first couple of times you stopyourself from saying, "I'm an executive coach orconsultant" and replace it with a marketing message thatdescribes how you actually help clients, it will feelawkward. Keep using and fine tuning your marketingmessage and soon it will not only give prospects a clearidea of what you do but you'll be comfortable using it.Once you have a 15 second marketing message that worksyou can use it in the elevator, in the airport, on thephone, and at parties and watch your business grow.-2004 © In Mind Communications, LLC. All rights reserved.
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