Your Elevator Speech must be short and concise and you must
know it off by heart. It must come so naturally to you that you can repeat it
in your sleep.
Introductory statements that are not elevator speeches
include, “My name is Michael and I am a sales trainer”. “My name is Mary and I
am a motivational speaker”.
None of these statements stimulate any conversation and
will either drive potential clients to the other side of the room or bore them
while they say to themselves, ‘so what’.
Remember every potential client is thinking ‘what’s in it
for me. So if anyone can see the wiifm (what’s in it for me) after your
elevator speech, you’re selling benefits.
A better strategy would be, “My name is David and I help
international expatriates with their mortgages/help them retire early/maximise
their investments (all benefits for them).”
Remember your goal is to keep the conversation going and
stimulate a response from the person you are speaking to. Your goal is not to
talk about yourself and what you do but it is to find out what the other person
does and what is important to them, i.e. what’s in it for them.
To prepare your elevator speech, first identify how you can
help your potential clients. List at least three things that you could do to
help your clients, and then list three reasons why people should be doing
business with you.
Now…list three things you do to help your clients
1
2
3
Now create your elevator speech into three parts.
Part one would
describe what it is that you do, i.e. ‘My name is Frank Furness and I help
organisations to understand the selling process in a fun and educational way.’
Now…write out your introduction and what it is that you do
My name……
Part two would describe
how they would derive benefit from what you are selling them. ‘I help organisations to give their sales
people the right skills, I help them to understand what motivates their sales
people and give them strategies to sell to clients the way that they buy.’
Now write out your benefit statement
I help….
Part three is the
‘what’s in it for them’
‘What this means to you as the company owner, is so that they can be more motivated and exceed their
sales targets.
The part three
should always include a phrase like, ‘so
that’.
Now ….write out your benefit statement.
After you have done this, put it all together and learn it
well. Also remember that this could change depending on the clients and their
requirements.
Frank Furness CSP CFP TOT is a professional speaker and trainer specialising
in financial services sales and sales management. He has educated, entertained
and inspired audiences in 53 countries. His publications and sales CDs have
been sold globally. For more information or to sign up for the free ‘Sales Tips
& Ideas’ newsletter, email frank@frankfurness.com and for resources take a look at http://www.frankfurness.com and http://www.technologytoolsforbusiness.com
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