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Article Check - Networking Your Way to Profits: Part 1 'The Power of The Elevator Speech'
Many small business computer consulting companies share a familiar headache and frustration-- how do you motivate or have employees follow the rules of your company? Employees can be using your firm as a stepping stone to something bigger, a place to get their feet wet. They are not there for the long run or to win the longest serving employee award. It is time to stop dreaming that you will have employees that will be with you forever. It just isn’t going to happen.Many business owners of small business computer shops share the same frustrations around having technicians not return phone calls to clients, not filling out time sheets, not sharing information with their peers in the company, and simply just
I thought this was such a brilliant way of introducing yourself I enthusiastically ‘spread the word’ amongst my own business colleagues.
And something suddenly struck me… an awful lot of them just ‘didn’t get it’. Oh, they got the idea alright, and they seemed to understand the principle. But when they tried to put it into practice for themselves they either went on for too long (in some cases the elevator could have gone up and down a dozen t
Once you are a small business owner, you will need to determine the best way to advertise your business to get your name out in the world and let everyone know you are open for business.There are quite a few free advertising methods. Superpages.com allows you to add your listing at no charge, plus you can add as much information as you want to promote your business.Building even a small, one page web site can help promote your business. There are numerous search engines that you can add your URL to once your web site is complete, which will get your name out into the world. Web site hosters can help you with your site, offering pre-made templates to walk you through your creation. Http://www.godaddy.com
The ‘Elevator Speech’ – Part 1
Create your own business network and you create a wealth of opportunity. The opportunity to find business; give business and introduce business people to each other. Concentrate on creating a network of contacts who know you, trust you and, eventually recommend you. The most effective way of doing this is to make sure you know what he /she offers – so you can recommend him/her. Then he wants to ‘return the favour’ by recommending you.
Before he can suggest you to other business contacts, or even decide if he wants you in his network, he needs to know what you do and why he should recommend you. Your challenge is to get him to decide you are a valuable addition to his network right from the word ‘Go!’ That’s where having a powerful, succinct – perhaps even intriguing – elevator speech works magic for you.
The idea is very simple, but extremely effective. The intention is to give a powerful or intriguing introduction, when you first meet someone, so people ask for more information – rather than ‘switching off’. The name; ‘Elevator Speech’ originates from the US and refers to the time it would take to ‘ride the elevator’ to the top of a high-rise building – about 30 seconds.
And that’s about the maximum amount of time you have to keep someone’s attention after they ask “What do you do?” If your answer is boring or long-winded he (or she) starts looking for a way to ‘escape’ from you.
There are many ‘elevator speech’ structures and theories around. I first came across this particular one at a Jay Abraham’s seminar in London in 1994. It was introduced by one of his co-presenters and the structure made it so easy for a beginner to use.
The ‘speech’ has 4 specific elements:
“You know how…”
“Which means …”
“Well, what I do is…”
“Which means …”
I thought this was such a brilliant way of introducing yourself I enthusiastically ‘spread the word’ amongst my own business colleagues.
And something suddenly struck me… an awful lot of them just ‘didn’t get it’. Oh, they got the idea alright, and they seemed to understand the principle. But when they tried to put it into practice for themselves they either went on for too long (in some cases the elevator could have gone up and down a dozen ti
There was a time when obtaining business financing in Canada was very hard. But this is changing as small business financing companies are moving into an area previously dominated by large banking institutions.As most business owners know, qualifying for a business loan or a line of credit is very hard. Bank lending criteria is so strict that few companies ever manage to get any financing. But that is changing.If you own a company that sells goods or services to other businesses (or the government), then there are two financing options that are available to you. They are invoice factoring and purchase order financing.Are your clients taking up to 60 days to pay their invoices? Consider invoice
Before he can suggest you to other business contacts, or even decide if he wants you in his network, he needs to know what you do and why he should recommend you. Your challenge is to get him to decide you are a valuable addition to his network right from the word ‘Go!’ That’s where having a powerful, succinct – perhaps even intriguing – elevator speech works magic for you.
The idea is very simple, but extremely effective. The intention is to give a powerful or intriguing introduction, when you first meet someone, so people ask for more information – rather than ‘switching off’. The name; ‘Elevator Speech’ originates from the US and refers to the time it would take to ‘ride the elevator’ to the top of a high-rise building – about 30 seconds.
And that’s about the maximum amount of time you have to keep someone’s attention after they ask “What do you do?” If your answer is boring or long-winded he (or she) starts looking for a way to ‘escape’ from you.
There are many ‘elevator speech’ structures and theories around. I first came across this particular one at a Jay Abraham’s seminar in London in 1994. It was introduced by one of his co-presenters and the structure made it so easy for a beginner to use.
The ‘speech’ has 4 specific elements:
“You know how…”
“Which means …”
“Well, what I do is…”
“Which means …”
I thought this was such a brilliant way of introducing yourself I enthusiastically ‘spread the word’ amongst my own business colleagues.
And something suddenly struck me… an awful lot of them just ‘didn’t get it’. Oh, they got the idea alright, and they seemed to understand the principle. But when they tried to put it into practice for themselves they either went on for too long (in some cases the elevator could have gone up and down a dozen t
Grey's Anatomy has been (falsely) pegged as show primarily for the female population. This is patently ridiculous. There are female story lines to be sure, but there are also decidedly male-oriented story lines. This all is indicative of a larger issue regarding the pigeon-holing of television programs seemingly geared towards a certain demographic even when they really aren't. Grey's Anatomy is a perfect example of a TV show that has been unfairly characterized as a show only for women and reluctant boyfriends.Grey's Anatomy, of course, doesn't really have to worry about this issue because its popularity is enormous already. But, think how much higher the ratings could possibly be if ABC took the time to show
And that’s about the maximum amount of time you have to keep someone’s attention after they ask “What do you do?” If your answer is boring or long-winded he (or she) starts looking for a way to ‘escape’ from you.
There are many ‘elevator speech’ structures and theories around. I first came across this particular one at a Jay Abraham’s seminar in London in 1994. It was introduced by one of his co-presenters and the structure made it so easy for a beginner to use.
The ‘speech’ has 4 specific elements:
“You know how…”
“Which means …”
“Well, what I do is…”
“Which means …”
I thought this was such a brilliant way of introducing yourself I enthusiastically ‘spread the word’ amongst my own business colleagues.
And something suddenly struck me… an awful lot of them just ‘didn’t get it’. Oh, they got the idea alright, and they seemed to understand the principle. But when they tried to put it into practice for themselves they either went on for too long (in some cases the elevator could have gone up and down a dozen t
Having a competitive advantage over other businesses targeting the same market as yours is a basic, survival must: many choose to develop longterm relationships with their customers, in an attempt to create such competitive advantage. Knowing your customers is crucial, and it is quite a different thing from knowing their buying behavior. It is every marketer's dream to have real, up-to-date information about consumers: their preferences, opinions, attitudes, beliefs, interests, education level, behavior are the base of understanding their needs.Businesses often employ Marketing research to determine the consumers' degree of acceptance of a new product, and the reason behind this is the fact that launching a ne
There are many ‘elevator speech’ structures and theories around. I first came across this particular one at a Jay Abraham’s seminar in London in 1994. It was introduced by one of his co-presenters and the structure made it so easy for a beginner to use.
The ‘speech’ has 4 specific elements:
“You know how…”
“Which means …”
“Well, what I do is…”
“Which means …”
I thought this was such a brilliant way of introducing yourself I enthusiastically ‘spread the word’ amongst my own business colleagues.
And something suddenly struck me… an awful lot of them just ‘didn’t get it’. Oh, they got the idea alright, and they seemed to understand the principle. But when they tried to put it into practice for themselves they either went on for too long (in some cases the elevator could have gone up and down a dozen t
Everyone looks forward to the time of year that Girl Scout cookies hit the streets and find their way to their neighborhood. The Girl Scouts of America have developed a staple product fundraising campaign that produces incredible results every year. They are just one of the many organizations across the nation that integrate product fundraising such as selling candy, gift wrapping, magazines, or collectibles to raise the money needed to operate. It may seem like an extremely simple strategy, but what is it that divides the Girl Scouts from so many other organizations that find themselves weary and coming up short? Successful product fundraising campaigns have three major things, an excited fundraising crew, great
I thought this was such a brilliant way of introducing yourself I enthusiastically ‘spread the word’ amongst my own business colleagues.
And something suddenly struck me… an awful lot of them just ‘didn’t get it’. Oh, they got the idea alright, and they seemed to understand the principle. But when they tried to put it into practice for themselves they either went on for too long (in some cases the elevator could have gone up and down a dozen times before they finished!) or they missed the point of highlighting a serious problem and demonstrating a solution with a real benefit or an intriguing notion.
Let me tell you about one example...
I’d agreed to give a presentation on business networking with a good friend and business colleague of mine, who organises corporate events and exhibitions and offers training on how to get the most out of attending an exhibition. Our presentation was at a business breakfast meeting – we have quite a few of these in the UK. Now, Chris is absolutely brilliant at networking, but he hadn’t come across the Elevator Speech before. We decided it would be a good tool to share with the delegates and Chris agreed to write his own Elevator Speech as a demonstration.
This is what he came up with…
“You know how some business people attend exhibitions but don’t know how to work their stands”
“Which means they don’t get the business contacts they need”
“Well, what I do is train them how to work the stand properly”
“Which means they get new business from the exhibition”
Although this was OK; it does actually describe what Chris does for the exhibiting company, it really didn’t hit any ‘hot buttons’ for anyone listening.
You see, the first statement “You know how...” must reveal a hot problem – whether real or perceived. Chris’ first attempt just didn’t state a problem people could identify with.
So what is the real problem businesses see in exhibiting? Well, for smaller businesses there is a barrier to taking part in exhibitions (at least there is here in the UK, maybe elsewhere as well). Entrepreneurs and business owners find it difficult to justify spending the money and time on an exhibition. And it is purely because they don’t have a clue of how to get the most out of it. Chris does – he and his associates have ove
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