The other day I was in a pizza place and struck up a
conversation with the owner. He mentioned that he had a home business in
addition to that restaurant and it was doing very well.
"Great! Tell me about it!"
He proceeded, for the next five minutes, to explain. It was on
the Internet. Doctors and lawyers are doing this as a side
business and are doing very, very well. He said "It's a sort of
mall on the Internet, you should check it out." He gave me the
web address and then he had to tend to a customer.
I had no idea what he did.
Can you explain your business clearly to a complete stranger in
20 seconds or less? Can you do it in such a way that, if they
are in a position to use your product or service they will want
to know more? If not, you have some work to do!
Whenever and wherever you go you will meet potential customers,
and you may not have much time to talk to them. If you cannot
clearly explain your business in a very short time, you could
lose an opportunity to interest someone in what you do; someone
that would be a good prospect if they knew.
This is commonly referred-to as an "elevator speech". Why?
Because if you got on an elevator with someone and, on the way
up, they asked, "What do you do?" you would only have a few
seconds to tell them before one of you reached your floor.
You cannot possibly tell your entire business story in such a
short time, but that is not the objective. The objective is to
break it down to its most essential elements, and get them to ask
for more.
Several years ago I went to a high school reunion (never mind
which one!) and saw a friend that I hadn't seen since graduation.
I asked him what he did for a living. He said "I fix bones!"
(It was pretty noisy and I thought he said, "I fix phones", but
that's another story.) That grabbed my interest, so I asked him
to tell me exactly what that meant and he explained that he was
an orthopedic surgeon, he had his own practice, was chief of
orthopedic surgery at a major local hospital, and that he
specialized in foot disorders. Ba-da-bing, ba-da-boom! He
grabbed me with the "elevator speech" (in this case, just three
words) and then, once he had my interest, took more time to tell
me the details. Perfect!
Work on your elevator speech. Practice it out loud when you are
alone; it will get better the more times you say it. Then, when
those big potential customers come along, you'll be ready to hook
'em and reel 'em in!
What's my elevator speech? I thought you'd never ask...
"I help people make more money and have more fun with their small
or home based businesses."
About the Author
Dave Balch generated over $5 million from his home-based
business. He is now a professional speaker, consultant, and
author of "Big Bucks in a Bathrobe", available 2001. Visit
http://www.TheStayAtHomeCEO.com. Comments and/or questions are always welcome at 1-800-366-2347 or
mailto:Dave@DaveBalch.com.