Today I attended a marketing seminar on “Knowing Your Niche Market”. Some of you may be asking yourself why a marketing coach and advertising agent would go to such a seminar and my response would be with 2 great reasons. The first, even when you specialize in a field you should always stay sharp and at the top of your game by checking out what others are saying and what techniques they are currently using. Second, the best place to find warm leads and potential clients is at a seminar where people have gone to learn more about the services you offer. The largest part of the seminar was spent on developing an elevator pitch that will allow you to peak a person’s interest in a short time and have them asking for more info about your business.

The speaker shared a standard format that is pretty widely accepted as the best way to begin. I have seen it at other seminars and in several marketing books. It is as follows: Tell your name & business name in the first sentence. Then give the information of “who” you work with, then “identify the problem or benefit” that you offer that niche market which results in something specific for them. “I am ________, owner of ________. We work with________ to_________ which results in _________. “ The key to an elevator pitch is to be memorable and to connect with the person you are speaking with in a way that is meaningful to them. If you start to list off a laundry list of services that you offer, chances are the person will not be engaged. However, if in your elevator pitch you are able to define exactly what you can do for a client which delivers the results they are wanting, chances are you have their attention.

Elevator pitches are being used quite often at networking groups as a way for members to connect with members and visitors to the group. I caution my clients about giving the exact same pitch every week to the same people….YAWN! The key to a great elevator speech is to keep people awake and not asleep while you speak. Having a clever tagline that you use at the end, but being creative with your intro and message in a 30 second time frame will have you be memorable and lead to more business. Also, pay attention to who you are speaking with. Try to use words that connect with them. For instance, if you are in a room of doctors and you are a web designer you might choose to say that you work with local medical practices and health care facilities to create websites that are easy to navigate by their “patients” and are found easily in searches on-line….instead of being generic and saying “customers” and throwing out the term “SEO” which is a term they may not know, shift the wording to connect with who you are speaking with.

Finally, be enthusiastic when delivering your pitch. If you sound monotone or you just appear like you are bored when you are speaking about your business why would I ever want to do business with you or to refer you to someone I know? Give me a reason to be excited about working with you!

All my best to your success!
~Charlene

“Success wears the Purple Diamond!”