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I'm handing out money for nothing.
What I'm about to say may frighten you, or offend you.
So, I apologize in advance for that-- I really mean no harm.
I'm bold, and straightforward about things, but completely harmless. I simply know a simple truth-- a communication secret that you have to get ahold of to create an effective elevator pitch.
That secret is that you have about 3 seconds before you no longer exist, and about 4 seconds before you're already forgotten.
So, don't waste time or valuable copy space with words that do not absolutely captivate your audience- and nothing is more captivating than themselves, and what they want.
People are tuned to WII FM 24/7: What's in it for me? Tap into that. I'll give a few examples I use all the time:
Talking to the seller of a property when I want seller financing (I want them to "be the bank" -- carry a note) I say:
"You can have a hassle-free stream of income for the next 3 years"
Here's the psychology behind the obvious: DO NOT ask people to DO things. Carry a note, finance part of the deal, etc. Carry? Sounds like WORK- I don't want to CARRY anything. Finance you? That sounds risky. But who doesn't want a hassle free stream of income? Doesn't that just have the nicest ring to it? A hassle free stream of income, ahhhh, that sounds nice...
...and what ever you do-- don't "we we" on me. First off, go back to the original idea that you have 3 seconds to grab my attention, and the best thing you can do get it is tell me what you can do for me. Second, you have a name-- USE IT.
Not only is what "we" do excruciatingly uninteresting to me, even if at some later point after I've come out of the coma you put me in blathering on about "We do this, and we do that" and decide I'm actually interested-- I might ask myself something that should TERRIFY you: "What company was that person from again? Hmmm...."
My friend Dave is a real estate coach. He's so good at this, that I know his elevator speech: My name is Dave and I can help you make a tremendous amount of money. I can do that one of two ways...
He has a rest of his schpeel, but he can do a longer elevator speech because right now, reading this I have your attention- and you're curious about the what the two ways are (locate a commercial property he buys and he'll pay you a nice referral fee, or he'll teach you to invest in residential real estate for equity and cashflow). The point is he's already captivated you. You can't stop thinking about "a tremendous amount of money"-- who the heck doesn't want a tremendous amount of money. Note, he doesn't say he's a coach, or consultant, etc.
Finally, what do you think of when I say, "Hi I'm a [fill in the blank] Consultant" ? Everyone else thinks that, too. Do you really want to use "consultant" to describe yourself? Blech  I'm not trying to get all the consultants here ticked off, I'm just being real and telling you it's bad marketing, and it doesn't work. Be a "profit strategist", or a "Revenue enhancement specialist" or a "finder of lost treasure" be ANYTHING but a da*n consultant!
WHAT CAN YOU DO FOR ME? How much money am I going to make because of you? How much time am I going to save? What part of my ego are you going to stroke? Figure that out, boil it down to a sentence or two and it's like having the keys to the vault.
Paul Strauss
www.ChicagoSuperConference.com
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