Small Business Networking...
Are You Generating Enough Leads?

How Important Are Your First Words?

What do you do?

Are you prepared to answer this question and make a positive impression for your business at various networking and social events you attend?

How about this one... When you go to a business event and everyone in the room gets to make a 30-second introduction, do you feel like you know how to gain attention and interest from any potential prospects or referral sources in the room?

How important are your first words?

Being prepared for these two most common small business scenarios can literally mean the difference between great marketing success and ongoing marketing frustration.

You know you need to be out there getting the word out about you and your services. But, if you're not sure how to command attention and interest in what you have to offer, you're missing way too many opportunities to connect with potential prospects.

Consider these tips for developing an attention getting introduction:

1. Start With The First 10 Seconds. What if 10 seconds is all you get? Does your first sentence tell your listener enough so they understand what you do and inspire them to want to know more? Here’s the simple, but effective approach. “I work with [type of clients] who have [these types of problems, issues or challenges].” That’s it. Don’t try to sugar it up or make it real catchy.

2. Avoid The What You Are Approach.“I’m an accountant” or “I’m a marketing consultant” or “I’m a financial planner” or “I’m a growth coach”. You’ve heard them time and again. You’ve probably even done it yourself. The problem is your listener(s) may not understand what the title means or even worse they may fill in an incorrect definition.

3. Avoid The What You Do Approach.“I do small business accounting including sales tax and payroll” or “I provide business owners with mentoring and training in comprehensive strategies to improve bottom line results…” Tends to be boring and doesn’t help the listener(s) understand what they get as a result.

4. Say How You Solved A Problem Or Served A Client.Reinforce your first 10 second sentence with a second sentence that shows how you solved a problem or overcame a particular issue or challenge. “I help mid-sized accounting firms plan big conferences on a small budget. I just recently lined up free live entertainment for a firm that hosted 500 people in town last week.”

5. Tell Them Why You Are Unique.What makes you stand out from the crowd? Maybe it’s a unique model or approach for better results, focus on a specific niche, a guarantee, or extras that others don’t provide. There are many ways to define your uniqueness that will help gain attention and make you memorable.

Make your introduction an attention getter. Start with the first 10 seconds. You can always build from there once it starts getting attention. Actually write it down and practice out loud several times until you can just say it naturally. I'd like to share some stories of both struggle and success with you to try and illustrate the power of being able to verbally express yourself in these common business situations. Names are not shared to protect the innocent, but the stories are real. Rather than trying to figure out who these individuals might be, I'd challenge you to see if maybe you see yourself at all in these scenarios.

Struggle

I was meeting with an individual who had been in business for himself for eight or nine months. When I asked him what sort of marketing initiatives he had been pursuing, he said he'd been devoting all of his efforts to networking.

He had joined a number of networking organizations (several to the tune of $200 to $300), but was very frustrated that he had not acquired one single client in that time. He had received a couple of referrals, but none of them had produced any results for his business.

So I asked him what his approach had been for talking with folks and for introducing himself to groups. He told me that he thought it was important to make sure people understood the breadth of services his company could offer and the depth of his extensive experience in helping organization enhance their processes and productivity... The primary goal was to set up a demonstration meeting to show the prospect the power of the tools and resources he had at his disposal.

Unfortunately, this approach was doing nothing to make him unique or memorable to those receiving his message.

How important are your first words? Be honest. Have you ever experienced any of this for yourself and your business?

Success

A business owner was at Dillard's paying for her purchase when a business card fell out of her wallet. The sales clerk noticed that the name was the same as the credit card being presented and asked, "What do you do?"

She resisted her first impulse to give her standard answer. Instead, she paused and said, "I want to help people simplify their life." Intrigued, the sales clerk asked, "How do you do that?"

So the business owner continued. "It just seems like so many of us are getting busier and busier with our life. Whether it's working longer hours or running the kids to and from all their various events. Do you ever come home at the end of the day and you are exasperated because you still have to get dinner on the table?"

Sales clerk: "That sounds a lot like my life."

Business owner: "Could you imagine what it would be like if you came home and there were several prepared meals to choose from that you just had to put in the oven while you sat down to unwind and enjoy some quality time with your family? That's an example of how I want to help people simplify their life."

Sales clerk: "Could I have one of those business cards? I think I'd like to call you to learn more."

Success

A financial advisor was at a networking group that he had been attending for several months. He enjoyed the group even though he had not received any business, not even any leads, as a direct result of his involvement.

We had been working together on coming up with more attention getting ways to introduce himself to such groups. Part of the problem he felt was that people hear that he's a financial advisor and the conversation ends. If that's not what they're looking for, or they think they already have it taken care of, then there's no need to inquire further.

But tonight was different. He decided to change things up and stay away from his normal bland introduction of name, title, and company.

When it came time for his 30-second introduction, he said something to this effect: "You know, when I introduce myself as a financial advisor, the most common obstacle I face is that people think they already have it taken care of.

But it's interesting. Because when I do get a chance to sit down and talk with someone about comprehensive financial planning, I'd say 90% of them learn something. And they figure out that, in fact, they don't have everything taken care of and they're usually dropping the ball in one or more areas of their planning."

There was a little more to the introduction, but the net result was that four or five people approached him before the event was over to either see if they could talk to him and learn more, or to validate what he had said for their own situation.

How important are your first words?

I hope you get the picture of just how powerful your ability to verbally express yourself in these most common business scenarios can be. Nail it and you'll be able to start attracting attention and interest for yourself. Flounder with it and you'll likely only achieve marketing invisibility.

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