A couple of weeks ago I attended a networking function in which I ran into one of my clients. Upon our greeting, she turned to the person she had already been chatting with and said, “Oh, you have to meet Barbara. She helps professionals get over their networking jitters by helping them introduce themselves with high impact!”
Naturally, I was very pleased that she told the other person what I do, rather than saying something like, “This is Barbara, she’s a business coach.” Another reason I was so delighted is that she used terms that I use in my own elevator pitch, meaning she was parroting my own elevator pitch. This naturally lead to the other person asking, “how do you do that?”, which gave me an opportunity to briefly explain how I help people.
In networking efforts, this is a dream scenario, because it makes it infinitely easier to connect with people. Other people “tooting your horn”, or excitedly sharing their experience in working with you, allows for a “warmer” introduction.
It doesn’t have to be only clients spreading the word about what you do either. In putting together a high impact introduction, you can easily brand yourself as the “go to” person in your industry, whether or not people you share your pitch with use your service/product. It’s much easier to do that when people know how to talk about you.
If you’re consistent with your elevator pitch, and you share it with as many people as possible, you’ll find that others will be willing to talk about you in just the same way that talk about yourself. You have to make it easy for them to do so.
Here are some ways you can encourage your elevator pitch to become a word-of-mouth campaign that can help boost your business:
Keep it simple: Make sure that your elevator pitch is very clear and concise, and that clearly explain what you do. Avoid technical jargon or acronyms that will confuse people.
Use quick statements that are easy to remember: In the experience I shared with you, you’ll notice that my client explained that I “help people get over networking jitters” and “help professionals introduce themselves with high impact”. Those are simple, bold statements I use in my own elevator pitch, which are short and easy to remember. My client is familiar with them because I use them in almost all of my marketing pieces, so she actually wouldn’t even have to be a client of mine to know that.
Keep your message consistent: Chances are you’re going to get to know people pretty well if you’re attending a lot of the same networking functions or you’re adding people you connect with to your network. If you’re sending out inconsistent messages about what you do, or are overloading people with a list of different products you offer, people will get very confused and it will be harder to talk about what you do. And then guess what happens? They won’t talk about you because they aren’t confident enough to share what you specialize in.
Make sure your clients are your biggest word-of-mouth advertisers: This is pretty obvious, but sometimes professionals just assume because you’ve done business with someone that they’ll automatically know what to say about you. True, they can share an experience about what you were able to do for them, but it will be easier for them to rave about you if they have an easy way to explain what you do. Be sure your clients are clear on the simplest way to share what you do.
It doesn’t have to be difficult to educate people on what you do, and to encourage people to spread the word. It can be as simple as consistently sharing your elevator pitch with others. Even if you get tired of the sound of your own voice, you’ll be just as delighted as I was when you hear someone introduce you in just the way you prefer to be introduced. You’ll be delighted to hear the buzz about you, I guarantee!
If you’re not sure how you can turn a simple 30-second elevator pitch into a simple word-of-mouth campaign, I invite you to register for the Rock Your Pitch Telecourse. In a series of 4 calls, you will learn step-by-step how to develop a high impact elevator pitch - making it easier for you to share a bit about yourself so that you stand out and are remembered in your networking efforts.
Would you like to use this "Fresh Tip" for your newsletter or website? You absolutely can as long as you use this complete blurb with it: Barbara Lopez, "The Elevator Pitch Coach" with Brightfarm Introductions, helps business professionals introduce themselves with high impact. Everything in business starts with an introduction. If you're ready to learn how to introduce yourself and your business professionally and comfortably, visit Barbara at www.brightfarm.com.
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