In my last post, I talked about your networking toolkit and said that a good elevator speech was an essential part of that kit.

What is an elevator speech? Simply, it’s a short statement about who you are, what you do and who you are looking to meet. Think of it as the verbal equivalent of your business card.

The following format works very well for someone looking for business referrals.

1. Name and Business
2. Brief description of your product or service
3. Profile of a client you have helped and how you helped them
4. Specific type of referral you are looking for
5. Name and Business again
6. Your “tag” or “hook” line if you have one.

Let me break this down, one element at a time.

Your name and the name of your business should be and is pretty obvious. Enough said.

The brief description of your product or service is the first point that trips people up. This is where it is very easy to go into the laundry list of everything you do. Resist that temptation! We can only keep a few things in our mind at one time. If you overload us with a long list, we will tune you out.

The other reason you can be brief in your description is that your story is another way to describe what you do. A story that moves us is more likely to be remembered than a list of services offered. A story can illustrate a number of things about you. It can describe a client in terms that might trigger other people to say to themselves, “Hey, I know someone like that!” It can show the specific benefit of working with you. It can show how wonderful you are with your clients. And it does all these things in a way people will relate to, believe and remember.

So when you are working on your elevator speech, think about your clients. What are your two or three best stories? Write them down and then work on trimming them to about 15 seconds.

So after your story, we know what you do and a little bit about how you do it. We also should have some clues about who you do it with. But it’s not enough to just passively put the word out there. You need to give us a call to action. And that’s what the specific request for a referral does.

How do you ask for a referral? There are a couple of methods. One is to ask for a specific person. You refer back to your story and say something like, “Another company that I’d like to do the same thing for is XYZ Corp. I’d appreciate an introduction to Jane Smith in their HR department.”

Supposing you don’t need to meet a specific person? That’s okay. You can still ask for a referral. A good phrase to use is “Who do you know who…” and then fill in the rest with something that ties back to your story. That is a very powerful way to ask for a referral. It is an open-ended question (one that can’t be answered by “yes” or “no.”). Many people use “Do you know someone who?” This structure is not as effective because it is closed-ended (can be answered by “yes” or “no.”).

Repeat your name and the name of your business. Why? Because the odds are good that we weren’t paying attention the first time. If you are at an event where lots of people are giving an elevator speech, we’ve probably heard several bad ones already and are bored. We’re going to assume that you are going to be just like the others we’ve heard, and we’re tuning you out. Then you surprise us with something that is actually good! Now we want to meet you. But we missed your name.

Few people are comfortable with walking up to a total stranger and admitting we can’t remember a name. So give us a second chance to catch yours. We’ll be more likely to talk to you and ask you to “Tell me more.”

Finally, do not overlook that tagline. What is a tagline? It’s an eight to ten word sentence or phrse that ties everything together and leaves something memorable in the audience’s mind. Big companies almost always have them. Some examples are:

Avis-We try harder
GE-We bring good things to life
Nike-Just do it.

See what I mean? A tagline should be catchy and memorable. It’s the last thing your audience will hear, so it is worth spending some time working on a memorable one. It will set you apart from others at a networking function and will make people want to talk to you.

The most important thing is to remember always to be clear and concise. No one likes to listen to someone drone on for several minutes and say nothing. One of the best compliments you can get is one that I received after an event. “Lots of people talk a lot and say very little. You talk a very little and say a lot.”

That’s the goal of an excellent elevator speech!

Tags: communication, Elevator Speech

This entry was posted on Monday, March 8th, 2010 at 12:54 pm and is filed under Networking. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.