Elevator Presentation
Part of branding yourself is how you introduce yourself to others. This includes how you dress, speak and what you say. You want your elevator presentation to be to the point and have the end in mind. This means that you want to clearly state your business objective of ideally who you need to meet, both from a direct client perspective and from strategic alliance perspective. Meaning that it is more important for people who meet you to find out the people you need to meet over what you do. Most people in networking situations are conditioned to ask “so what do you do?” Rather than “so who do you need to meet?” Or, even better, “so who do I know that you need to meet?,” which is really what you are after.
Every day there are situations that require you to provide an elevator presentation of what you do or who you need to meet. Talking to someone in an elevator or waiting room, playing golf or tennis, attending a business networking breakfast, business meeting or just speaking with your neighbor are examples. In these situations you need to confidently state who you are looking to meet and what you do. Specifically, your elevator presentation is used in an open environment where there are many business executives introducing themselves to the entire group. This is the forum where you must shine. The key now, according to Dale Carnegie and others, is HOW you say it not so much WHAT you say. The three elements in making a presentations or introductions are visual, vocal and content. A recent statistic shows that 55% is visual, 38% vocal and 7% the actual content.
Speak clearly, confidently, emphasize keywords and enunciate clearly. It takes at least 3 seconds for the people in the audience to tune in to what you are saying. So don’t start with your name and company name. Start with a factoid about your industry, a powerful quote or something of humor. Then move to your name and company name, who you are looking to meet and what your company does. Regarding the length, create 3-second, 10-second and 1-minute elevator presentations for the various scenarios described above. Examples of a good introduction can be: “Did you know that one of the most cost effective ways to market your business is through email marketing?” or “Most people fear making a presentation in front of a lot of people more than almost anything else in life.”
I am a recent graduate of the Dale Carnegie Course Effective Communications and Human Relations. There I learned his philosophy behind “Making Our Ideas Clear.” It is called the LIONS approach. L = Language easily understood; I = Illustrations; O = Organize Thoughts; N = Narrow Subject to key points and finally; S = Summarize. Now keep in mind that in presentations under one minute you might not be able to cover each point but at least this provides guidelines for you.
Recently I attended a black tie charity dinner. Sitting at my table was the owner of a gym. In conversation I mentioned that I focus on connecting business executives to one another. Because of what he did one of my clients would be a good fit with him so I asked permission to connect them, of which he said yes. In that circumstance I was positioning myself, branding myself and introducing myself all at the same time. However, I was focusing more on what connections I had that could help him.
Ultimately you will be welcomed into almost any environment if you keep others’ interests in mind through focusing on how you can help them. From there they will want to help you. So, make sure you when they ask "so what do you do?", that you include the people who you need to meet.
Please feel free to post comments on my blog at http://powernetworking.blogspot.com/
Suggested reading:
How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
Dale Carnegie’s Course: Effective Communications and Human Relations
The Fast Forward MBA in Selling by Joy J. D. Baldridge
How to Become a Marketing Superstar by Jeffrey J. Fox
Every day there are situations that require you to provide an elevator presentation of what you do or who you need to meet. Talking to someone in an elevator or waiting room, playing golf or tennis, attending a business networking breakfast, business meeting or just speaking with your neighbor are examples. In these situations you need to confidently state who you are looking to meet and what you do. Specifically, your elevator presentation is used in an open environment where there are many business executives introducing themselves to the entire group. This is the forum where you must shine. The key now, according to Dale Carnegie and others, is HOW you say it not so much WHAT you say. The three elements in making a presentations or introductions are visual, vocal and content. A recent statistic shows that 55% is visual, 38% vocal and 7% the actual content.
Speak clearly, confidently, emphasize keywords and enunciate clearly. It takes at least 3 seconds for the people in the audience to tune in to what you are saying. So don’t start with your name and company name. Start with a factoid about your industry, a powerful quote or something of humor. Then move to your name and company name, who you are looking to meet and what your company does. Regarding the length, create 3-second, 10-second and 1-minute elevator presentations for the various scenarios described above. Examples of a good introduction can be: “Did you know that one of the most cost effective ways to market your business is through email marketing?” or “Most people fear making a presentation in front of a lot of people more than almost anything else in life.”
I am a recent graduate of the Dale Carnegie Course Effective Communications and Human Relations. There I learned his philosophy behind “Making Our Ideas Clear.” It is called the LIONS approach. L = Language easily understood; I = Illustrations; O = Organize Thoughts; N = Narrow Subject to key points and finally; S = Summarize. Now keep in mind that in presentations under one minute you might not be able to cover each point but at least this provides guidelines for you.
Recently I attended a black tie charity dinner. Sitting at my table was the owner of a gym. In conversation I mentioned that I focus on connecting business executives to one another. Because of what he did one of my clients would be a good fit with him so I asked permission to connect them, of which he said yes. In that circumstance I was positioning myself, branding myself and introducing myself all at the same time. However, I was focusing more on what connections I had that could help him.
Ultimately you will be welcomed into almost any environment if you keep others’ interests in mind through focusing on how you can help them. From there they will want to help you. So, make sure you when they ask "so what do you do?", that you include the people who you need to meet.
Please feel free to post comments on my blog at http://powernetworking.blogspot.com/
Suggested reading:
How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
Dale Carnegie’s Course: Effective Communications and Human Relations
The Fast Forward MBA in Selling by Joy J. D. Baldridge
How to Become a Marketing Superstar by Jeffrey J. Fox
posted by Rossetti at 6:49 AM
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