---

Guest post by: Deborah Baker-Receniello Become an Author

Tweet

---

---

The Big Message: Articulating What You Do
The important thing is this: to be able at any moment to sacrifice what we are for what we could become.
Charles Du Bos

The key is making a good first impression that appeals to your prospective clients’ needs. How do you do this? Is there a reliable way to get attention with just a few words?
The way you present your business to the public can have a dramatic affect on how potential customers perceive you and your product or service. A key benefit is that you control your public presentation and can fine tune it so that it communicates your true message to potential customers. First impressions are made on the way you look, and are quickly pursued by the first words out of your mouth. Over the years, I have helped hundreds of small business owners become more aware of the personal power they can create through a professional image and through successfully articulating what they do.
Most professionals and business owners find themselves in situations where they are asked, “What do you do?” Most people respond with a label. I am a Business Coach. I am a management consultant. I repair jewelry. This does not work because people may not understand what you do, or may have preconceived ideas of, let’s say, a used car salesman. It is wise to have a three to five minute elevator speech that is a well-prepared series of phrases about yourself, your company, what you do, how you do it, and with whom. Armed with this speech, you can turn any brief encounter into a big win for you and your business. You can also shorten the version for quick encounters.
Start with the first ten seconds. What if ten seconds is all you get? Tell your audience enough so that they understand what you do and inspire them to want to know more.

Examples:
Ø I work with home manufacturing companies that are tired of losing money because of employee attrition.
Ø We work with companies who are frustrated with losing money because of internal conflict and want to better communicate needs and values.
Ø I work with small business owners struggling to attract more clients and who are looking for ways to design and grow their businesses to make more money and save time consistently.
Ø I work with management teams that are tired of just stuffing it and assist those who desire to value themselves and their team, quickly and on target.
Ø I assist people who suffer from stiffness and joint pain with which they have been dealing all their lives and do not know what to do about it.
Ø I assist entrepreneurs who are ready to grow their own business. First, I help them discover what success means to them and find the vision for their business to implement. I’m your Small Business Coach.
Exercise
Let’s look at a formula, brainstorm, and start crafting your statement of what you can do for people.
I am ________ (your name). I (help, work with, or assist) ________ (name your target market) who are ________ (name their problem, challenge, or issue). ________(a key benefit or why I would do business with you), and ________ (Unique Competitive Advantage – something that sets you apart from your competition.) .

Brainstorm your ten-second to one minute attention getting introduction:
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Now that you have written it down, practice out loud several times until you can say it naturally.




Now, brainstorm situations where you can use it and write some scenarios:
Networking______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
On the telephone ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
On your message or answering machine ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
In social settings ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Remember that you want to initiate an interesting conversation. If asked, “How do you do that?” you can always follow up with a story.

“We recently worked with a client who (name the situation)…”
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________


Say what you did for them
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

What happened as a result of your work together? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

Your main objective is to get attention, move to your benefit statement, and then to your stories. Your prospect now knows what you do, with whom, and the results, which is perhaps a potential solution to their problems and they will want more. Now that you have your client’s attention, he may be ready to explore working with you, and you can make an appointment to learn more and persuade him to buy from you.

Scripts
Are you prepared when you get voice mail or have to make a telephone call or meet in person? Know what you want to say before you pick up the phone and decide how you want to say it. This is a good way to eliminate your nervousness and will make you sound relaxed and confident on the phone.

Related Articles

  5 Skills Critical to a Sales Professional’s Success in Today’s economy: Equipping Your Team to Succeed
  A Great Manager Is A Great Communicator
  If you don’t know what you need, why are you talking about it?
  What Do People Hear In Your Marketing?
  Book Review: Made to Stick
  Best MLM companies - why people are still failing!
  Market Your Company With Your Voice Mail Message
  The Trouble with Most Marketing Messages
  The fastest way to get feedbacks from customers is now possible with text message marketing
  Results Rule! Use Tracking and Measurement in Your Marketing
  Presentations - Easy as 1 - 2 - 3
  How do you get a full email header ?
  Trigger their curiosity
  THE TECHNIQUE OF "CONSCIOUS PERCEPTION"
  3 Keys to Getting Your Message Out into the World So You Can Make a Difference
  How to Connect With People
  Learning How to Connect with People
  Make your offer viral
  The Voicemail "Chase me" game
  The Sales Meeting Objective – Is It Mutually Beneficial?

Related Forum Posts

Re: New McDonalds McCafe concept...
Re: Those Annoying Telemarketers
Re: The Storm Brace a new invention
Re: Two hats - startup sales mentor and Message Slinger
Re: Watch What you Read

Share this article. Fund someone's dream.

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Top 5 Tips for Better Online Ads

A Self-Assessment Leadership Test

SEXUAL HARASSMENT – THE CAREER KILLER

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.