The 20 Second Commercial (Elevator Speech) answers the basic questions that salespeople hear every day –
“What do you do?”
or
“Tell me about your company.”
You must be prepared to respond confidently and professionally. There’s a right way and a wrong way.
The wrong way is typically company focused
and makes statements that are often regarded with skepticism by the prospective customer. An example is…
”We’re a leading national widget provider. We’ve been in business for over 20 years, and have a great reputation for excellent quality and service. We have a long list of satisfied customers, and I’m sure our widgets can help you improve your manufacturing process.”
This may sound good, but it fails to differentiate you from the rest of your competition because they’re saying exactly the same thing.
Here’s a better way.
Notice that it focuses on the problems you help people resolve, not worn out platitudes about how good you are.
“We’re a leading widget supplier. What’s unique about us is that we have a proprietary method for calibrating our widgets that has increased the accuracy rate by 23% over our nearest competitor. We work with companies that require a very high level of accuracy in their manufacturing process. Usually people come to us because they’re frustrated with too much costly waste and concerned about equipment downtime. Are any of these issues for you?”
Professionals introduce themselves by the problems they solve for people.
- Explain what your company does
- Explain why you are unique (
hopefully there is something that is a real differentiator…stay away from platitudes like “our service is really terrific”)
- Describe your typical client
(modify as necessary to fit your audience)
- Explain why they use you
(mention 2-3 common problems that your clients want you to help them resolve)
- Test for pain…
“I’m curious, are any of these issues for you?
and, if appropriate…
“Really? Can you tell me more about that?”
This approach focuses on the problems you solve for your customers, and becomes a quick way to determine if you are speaking with someone who might be a prospect for you.
Self-Study Assignment:
Using the ideas above, rewrite your elevator speech so that it focuses on the problems you solve for people. Eliminate all unnecessary references about how great your company is. Run the new speech past your manager and your peers to see how they feel about it. If it passes muster, commit it to memory.