30-Second Commercial = Painting a Verbal Picture
What exactly are you trying to accomplish with your 30-second commercial or elevator speech? You are attempting to paint a verbal picture in the minds of those in the room so they clearly and concisely know what you do and exactly how they can help you.
As the president of a business-to-business networking organization for 4 years, I had the opportunity to travel between 7 chapters to train and mentor chapter leaders as well as members on the fine art of networking.
Networking is a “learned skill-set” and with just a few pointers, you can reap maximum results the next time that you attend an event, go to a trade show or visit your local chamber mixer.
What I would see is two basic issues:
- The attendees didn’t have a plan. They simply showed up week after week but really had no idea why they were there.
- They thought about their 30-second commercial or elevator speech as they were getting out of their chair or even worst, when they opened their mouth.
The core to getting the most out of your networking activities is your 30-second commercial. The whole point to a good commercial is to educate those folks around you so that they can help you grow your business.
Consequently, your commercial absolutely must be compact and convey a concise message that is powerful enough for others to want to get to know you better.
Here are a few of Peggy’s Pointers that you can use to spiffy up your elevator speech:
–Talk about only 1 product or service at a time.
–Create several different version of your commercial.
–Make it interesting or engaging by starting with a question to get the audience attention.
–Include some areas of specialization or certification that you or your company holds.
–Practice, practice, practice using a timer and mirror.
Let me know how you use some of these ideas the next time you go to a networking event.
Peggy P. Edge (c) 2015
