As an entrepreneur, if I want my businesses to grow, I have to get in front of the right people, at the right time, and make the right pitch! Therein lies the problem… How do I know who the right person is? How do I know when the right time is? And as an entrepreneur with more than one business line, how do I know what the right pitch is? Over the years, this has been a struggle for me and other entrepreneurs but the solution is fairly simple. Since you can’t read minds and at least speaking for myself, I’m not clairvoyant and don’t possess any magical powers, you have to be willing and able to discuss your business with everyone you encounter. EVERYONE!
How’s Your Elevator Speech
The term “elevator speech” refers to the short amount of time you have on a typical elevator and in particular, if you were on an elevator and were asked the question “what do you do?”, how you would respond? For business owners, it provides an opportunity to “pitch” your business to potential clients, business partners, investors, etc. Some say it should be 30 seconds while others say 60 seconds. I would think that with the short attention span of most people these days, you want to be closer to 30 than 60. Short and sweet! Concise and to the point! Who you are, what you do, how you can help… Make them want to hear more, which opens the door to a potential business opportunity coming to fruition.
First Impression… One Shot!
I recall when I was in the music business in the 80s and 90s and how my first encounters with record company executives and radio station program directors went. Me and/or my artists were all set to sit and listen to a couple songs on our demo tape and get a record deal, put in regular rotation, and such; boy were we in for a rude awakening. 10-15 seconds… That’s it! That’s about how much of the first song on the tape that was heard. No chorus, not even a full verse… Just 10-15 seconds! From that point, I really understood what making a first impression meant. You got one shot! Essentially, if a song didn’t capture their attention in the first 10-15 seconds, they were moving on to the next.
The one lesson I’ve learned and even need a refresher from time to time is, if I don’t tell the world who I am and what I do, they won’t know. My business can’t grow and my brand can’t grow if nobody knows what I do. There was a time where I missed out on quite a few potential contracts with people that I’ve known for years because they didn’t know what I did. Almost as if it still haunts me, I remember hearing more than one person say “I wish I knew you did that last month” or “man, I didn’t know you ____”. From that point on, I realized I had to change my approach, be more aggressive, and make sure everyone knew…
Take control of your destiny and tell the world your name!