Your elevator speech and why everyone else’s has got it WRONG!

When I hear what professionals coach their people on how to make, craft, and develop their one minute business speech that we have come to know as their ‘elevator speech’, I am stymied as to their motivation. They share with you that you need to be succinct in your speech, that you need to tell them exactly what you do within one minute. And they tell you that if you can share that with them in under a minute that you will be more successful in your selling, marketing and/or career.

They bring in professionals and semi-celebrities that you see on TV or commercials and those people come in like lightning rods shooting off their excitement and energy and drawing you to them so you can see how your life will change once you can speak like them. And we all ooooh and aaah over them and build up their egos because we are told that is what we should emulate.
But now take a deep breath and ask yourself this question…

When I want or need something who do I want helping me to find, get it or achieve it?

So imagine this, you have decided that you need a new refrigerator. Who do you want to help you buy that new refrigerator? Do you want the person who comes up to you and starts telling you all about this really nifty refrigerator, all of it’s bells and whistles, all of the features , functions and their benefits? I know!! It sounds like that is who you might want, right?

But it’s not.

You really want the person who is going to walk up to you and be interested in you. Someone who asks about you. Someone who seems to care – about you. Because that first person? That refrigerator? It was $5,000. And it turns out, your budget is $1800. And that laser sighted ice cube shooter that will put ice in your glass from across the room? You only want ice cubes and water from the door. And that flashy stainless steal finish won’t match your mahogany textured fronts that you already have on your other appliances.

This next person asks you all of these questions because they care about getting you something you want and need and can afford. They show an interest in you. And isn’t that what you really want?

Now whether it is a refrigerator, a car or something in your business, you want to work with someone who cares about you and your business.

Isn’t that what you want to portray to potential clients? Isn’t that what you want them to know about your business, is that you will care about theirs? And if you want to do business with someone who cares about you and your business isn’t that what you expect other people in business to want also?

Now allow me to share a recent experience at a networking group. We were told to rotate and share our one minute speech about our business. And each time someone said, ‘tell me what you do’ I simply reacted with, ‘may I ask you a couple of questions?’ and they said, of course.
I asked them why they were here, what they wanted out of the group, and a few other succinct questions. At the end I simply said, ‘well, I teach people how to do all of that and be more successful in business.’ And each one said, ‘Really?’ and then two out of three of them asked for my business card without me offering it.

You see, instead of telling someone all about you or your business when you don’t even know if you can be of service in any way shape or form makes no sense. Instead take that time to ask five vital questions that tell you in one minute if they should make an appointment with you to help them with their business. And then your success depends upon what you learn about their business during the next few appointments.

I am Steve Sapato, business and management coach, humorist and professional speaker.
steve@steveapato.com
Learn To Win School of Success