The Desert of Arizona
Clear 57 Degrees
Back when I attended networking meetings in Chicago, part of every meeting would be to deliver my “elevator pitch” about my service.
Some people were really good at those and honed them down into a well polished sound bite.
I was OK at it. But these days, I think back to those times and cringe at how little I understood about client attraction.
The problem with the elevator pitch, even if it’s short, is that no one cares about what you do! And they care least right at the beginning. And that’s when we’re told to spend 30-45 seconds blabbing on about ourselves!
So the minute you open your mouth and start by saying “I” or by mentioning the name of your company, the listener is going to switch off mentally.
OK, they might be polite and stare at you with that blank gaze that shows you they are not engaged. Maybe they’ll even struggle through one of those yawns right in your face that they try to hide by smiling or coughing.
You can be smarter than this.
First of all, make a decision that the next “networking” opportunity you have, you go in there with a single focus:
To help people without asking for anything in return.
You don’t hand out your business card, you don’t setup a meeting, you don’t do coffee.
You get THEIR business card and you figure out how to add value to them.
This is very simple but it’s a different way of thinking.
It’s a strategic way of “getting” as a natural byproduct of authentic giving first.
The next time someone asks you “what do you do?” use it as an opportunity to add value first. You do that by responding to their request with a simple question:
“I’d be happy to talk about that. But first, I’m curious what it is you do, where you’re at now and where you’re trying to go?”
Right there you’ve focused the conversation on the person’s favorite subject (them!) and given yourself the opportunity to get the information you need to truly help someone.
If you want results others aren’t getting, you can’t go around acting like everyone else.
You must be different. You must be valuable. You must be clear about what your purpose is.
As Incomparable Experts™, we are here to solve problems.