Excerpt from How to Open Doors with a Brilliant Elevator Speech, 2nd Edition
An elevator speech is a brief statement of who you serve, the problems you address, and the outcomes you deliver. It’s not a laundry list of everything you do. Most important, it describes the value and benefit you offer to your customer. It generates a “Tell me more” response from your prospect.
And, most important, you phrase your elevator speech so that your prospect can’t say anything like
• “That’s nice, but I’m already doing business with . . . .”
• “We already have someone in the office who does that.”
• “Thank you, but we don’t need any.”
Seize the Moment
So here’s an example when that elevator speech is your ticket to success.
You get into an elevator, and just as the door is about to close, Mr. Big, the person you have been trying to meet for the past six months, walks into the elevator. He pushes three. You have about 12 seconds before the door opens. How do you seize the moment?
If you are like most of us, you fail to capitalize on these wonderful opportunities because you do not have a great elevator speech that reliably motivates the other person to stop, turn to look at you, and say, “Tell me more.”
Buy Time To Keep Talking
Your elevator speech buys you time so you can keep the conversation going.
Here are some examples of introductory statements that are not elevator speeches:
• “My name is Sharon. I sell life insurance and am a financial planner.”
• “My name is Dave. I’m a consultant.”
• “My name is Phil. I work for the Acme Printing Company.”
• “My name is Kelly. I’m in sales.”
• “My name is Tom. I’m a lawyer (banker, accountant, doctor).”
Avoid Bad Introductory Statements
Yes, these statements may say what you do, but they don’t say who the service or product is for; they don’t say what problems you solve, and they don’t describe the outcomes you achieve. And, most importantly, they don’t get people to say, “Tell me more.”
Here are some more examples of bad introductory statements. What kinds of responses do you think these generate?
• “My company is in electronics.”
• “My company sells medical equipment.”
• “We’re a manufacturing company.”
The prospect rolls her eyes, yawns, and says to herself, “So what?” And then the salesperson continues:
• “We’re the best at. . . “
• “We’ve been in business for 25+ years.”
• “We do business with X number of companies in Y number of states.”
The prospect rolls her eyes, yawns and says to herself, “So what?” This is only the third person who has said that to her this morning, and it’s only 10:30 a.m.
Does it pass the “So what” test?
Here’s a good way to determine if you’ve got a great, good, or poor elevator speech. I call it the So what? test.
Look back at the previous examples. Can you say “So what?” after each one? Yep. Is it any wonder those folks who used those elevator speeches (real-world examples) were getting blown out of the water every time they spoke with someone new?
If the prospect can say, “So what?” after the elevator speech, you may not be making a benefit clear to her. On the other hand, if you can get someone to say, “Tell me more,” you probably have a good elevator speech.
Tell Me More, Baby
Craft a better elevator speech, and you’ll be on your way to opening doors that have been either stuck shut or closing on you. You are far more likely to get people to say those magical three words: “Tell me more.”
