"Hello, nice to meet you. What do
you do?"
I've just met you. In these first eight
seconds, I've looked you over and
decided your age, your income, your
success level, your background, and
your heritage. I don't really care what
you do — I'm too busy wondering if
my boss will give me a raise and
whether I should have another piece of
dessert. But I'm polite, so I'll pretend to
be interested. However, like many
Americans, I have a 14-second attention
span, so make it quick.
Have you ever told someone what
you do and gotten the famous glazed-eyeball
response? You know what I
mean:
"I'm a designer."
"Oh, really? Wow. How interesting."
Those four little words, "what do
you do?," can strike terror into the
heart of many business people who are
excellent at what they do but just can't
seem to get it across.
Do you think you can't possibly explain everything you do; you have to
demonstrate it?
Are you afraid of sounding like
you're trying to push a sale?
Do you think, "I'm so good at what I
do, why don't people get it?"
Have you ever watched the interest
drain from someone's eyes as you
begin to talk?
Do you assume everyone understands
what you do?
Do you conclude your job is pretty
boring, because no one ever asks you
about it?
If you answered yes to any of those
questions — would you like to attract
more business whenever you speak?
Learn to Speak Your Business in 30
Seconds or Less™ using verbs, numbers
and P.R. techniques to widen your
marketplace, establish you as an
expert, and escape from the world of
glazed eyeballs and polite disinterest.
Turn listeners into potential prospects,
change an ordinary elevator pitch into
a subliminal smart bomb, target the hidden needs of your listeners, and
link your product or service to their
unspoken desires — in 30 seconds!
Here is the formula to create an irresistible
30-second message to promote
your business, without "selling," in
any professional or social setting.
YOUR VERBAL BUSINESS CARD
Your "verbal business card" is your
response to the question, What do
you do?
We exchange thousands of business
cards, yet we use our verbal business
card 22 more times than our paper card.
How much blood, sweat, and tears
went into designing that paper card?
How much time have you spent designing
what you say to people in the first
30 seconds, which has an infinitely
greater selling power? If you lose someone's
attention in those first few seconds,
it takes three times as long to get
it back. Control your message or it will
control you. Your introduction should
work as hard as you do.
WHAT IS IN IT FOR ME?
The American attention span is
shrinking as we speak. We are bombarded
with over 80,000 messages and up to
500 requests for our attention a day.
Most of us are mentally tuned in to our
favorite channel — WIIFM —What's In It
For Me? We don't listen so much as scan
for useful bits of information.
Suppose I was in front of you right
now, talking about this. Chances are
you wouldn't be listening all that hard.
You'd be thinking, "I wonder how
much she makes? When is she going to
get to the point? I wonder if the dog's
eaten the rug again?" The point at
which you will tune in to what I'm
saying is when I start talking about
how I can solve one of your problems.
Our attention span drifts in and out of
the conversation about every seven
seconds, which is a normal process.
Furthermore, we are all wary of being
sold. That's why you need a subliminal
smart bomb of a message. Your information
needs to contain an emotional trigger
that will go under the intellectual
radar of your listener. If your message
contains emotion, it will trigger a different part of the brain, the limbic system,
create a different type of memory, and
stay there longer. That's how you stay
top-of-mind in your prospective listener.
Emotion sells.
Data doesn't.
Another barrier to being heard is
that most of us like to tell our "story" — that's the how, why, and what of our
business. Having spent 15 years in
public relations, training people to
speak in front of the media, I know
that the media don't have time for stories.
Why not? Because we don't. If
you can't give me the gist in
30 seconds, I'll click to
another channel. When you
speak to the media, you
have to speak in headlines.
It's the same in the business
world today. Do your
prospects a favor and keep it
short and sweet.
Your 30-second message is
a hook, not a description — it's about
the results you can produce for them.
Its sole purpose is to provoke a call to
action. When done correctly, it makes
people want to do something — ask for
your card, question you more closely,
call you up.
Here's an example of a 30-second
message before and after the formula.
Before: "I am a mortgage broker. I
help people build their dream homes."
After: "I teach people five secrets of
equity and finance so that they can
leverage other people's money and
hang on to more of their own."
There are four big differences between
these two sentences.
BROADEN YOUR MARKET
In the first statement, if you don't
need a dream home, you don't need
him. He's just labeled himself right off
your radar. Remember, your listener is
looking for an excuse not to listen to
you so you won't cost him money. If
you use the verb "am," you are helping
him silently think, "I already have a
mortgage broker. I don't need you."
Your listener has just wrapped you up
in a nice little package and tossed it
out. It doesn't matter if you're an attorney,
a dentist, a realtor, or a web
designer. If you use the verb "am," you
will help to close off the conversation.
You will also allow your listener to
silently define you, and dismiss you.
Notice how the second statement
widens the marketplace? It uncovers a
huge market excluded from the first —
everyone who's interested in money.
Do you have a sleeping market you
could be targeting?
POWER VERBS
The second statement also leverages
a much more powerful verb, teach, and
teachers are perceived as experts. We
tend to identify each other with our
verbs. People who help are helpers.
People who assist are assistants. You
want to be perceived as a colleague, a
peer, an expert they can trust — not a
helper. Think of verbs like teach, create,
design, reorganize, manage, develop,
establish, boost, generate. Use one of these verbs to describe what you do.
It makes you more of an innovator and
an expert in your profession.
NUMBERS HOOK
Another difference between the two
messages is that he has five secrets
designed to create curiosity. Numbers
are a great way to hook attention.
People love numbers because numbers
sound like statistics, and statistics are
real. Numbers carry a remarkable credibility
that descriptive words don't.
Numbers also generate a little anxiety,
because we judge ourselves by numbers
all our lives. Age, weight, income
— we're all either on the right or the
wrong side of 30. Most of us are on the
"wrong" side of a million dollars, or
perfect SAT scores. Most women are
on the "wrong" side of size two, a fact
which magazines capitalize on daily.
If you have five secrets about money
and your audience doesn't, it sets up a
kind of irresistible urge to know what
those secrets are. Numbers create
urgency, and urgency prompts action. If
you specialize in stress reduction, how
many techniques do you use? Count
them and use them. Everyone has a
number of techniques, formats, methods,
secrets, tips, formulas that they can
refer to. Another great way to use numbers
is to survey your clients and see
what kind of results you produce for
them. How many? In how much time?
How often? These percentages are
extremely useful to drop into the conversation.
They make your results that
much more believable. For example,
"I've developed five techniques to stop
back pain within three months."
SOLVE A DEEP NEED
The last difference between the two
messages is that the second sentence
directly addresses a deep need in
everyone who hears it — he or she can
help you hang on to your money. This
is the most important part of the 30-second message. This is where you
speak of the value you offer your
clients. Tie that value to the deepest
needs people have — more money, better
relationships, or better health. If
you're a graphic artist, don't
just tell me you do excellent
graphics for people.
Tell me how your clients
increased their customer
referral rate or bottom line
because of your designs. If
you don't have these figures,
get them. Conduct a
survey of your customers
and find out how much money and/or
time you have saved or made for them.
If you're in the relationship business,
find out how quickly relationships can
improve, or how many couples you
have helped toward a happy marriage.
If you are in the health field, don't tell
me how great your products are. Tell
me your greatest success stories.
If you keep your conversation solely
on your clients and in the third person,
you will not sound "salesy" but
confident. Pick a verb that sets you
apart from the competition. Use numbers
to raise curiosity. Figure out
which deep need your business satisfies
in your clients and describe how
you answer that need. When they ask
you for more information, resist the
urge to tell your story. Keep hooking
your listeners with headlines about
your business such as a brief testimonial,
a range of your results, or a one sentence
success story. It's perfectly all
right to say, "My clients have been
thrilled. It's very gratifying." This does
not make you sound like a blowhard,
and it's a great testimonial. Above all,
make sure your 30-second message is
not about you but about the results you
can produce for them.
Ann Convery, M.A., is the VP of
Anthony Mora Communications Inc.
Ann has prepared clients for interviews
in all major media such as CNN,
60 Minutes, ABC's 20/20, Fox News,
MSNBC, the New York Times, the Los
Angeles Times, Vogue, USA Today,
People, Self, and other outlets. Learn more about Ann Convery.
4 EXAMPLES OF POWERFUL VERBAL BUSINESS CARDS
Before: "I am a mortgage broker. I help people build their dream homes."
After: "I teach people five secrets of equity and finance so that they can
leverage other people's money and hang on to more of their own."
Before: "I design and create removable and reusable wall appliques for
mothers and children to decorate their walls."
After: "My company designs and creates over 200 reusable wall appliques
for kids. Children can change their entire room with no mess and no cleanup,
and parents save money on redecorating for five to 10 years."
Before: "I help moms make money."
After: "I teach mothers a business development program so they can go
from zero to $55K a year working from home."
Before: "I own a meeting management company. We do association and
corporate meetings.We work all over the U.S. and internationally. I can help
generate new revenue for cost-effective meetings, negotiate excellent contracts,
rearrange expenses, or find better sponsorship programs."
After: "I own two meeting management companies, and I've developed
four revenue strategies to save my clients up to $150K in expenses or make
up to $400K in new money."
