Delivering an elevator speech

Traditionally, most people have two opportunities to deliver an elevator speech. The first one is when they meet people individually. This takes place at business meetings, social functions, trade shows and many other places. The other opportunity takes place when they attend a networking function or leads club and are allowed to deliver their elevator speech in front of a group. People sometimes call these types of elevator speeches "30-second commercials." It's the latter opportunity that I want to focus on for this month's column.

I would like to give you some simple tips that will help you begin to develop an elevator speech that will not only be more comfortable for you to deliver, but will grab people's attention, engage them in conversation about your business and encourage them to say the three most beautiful words in the world: "Tell me more."

Know what you're going to say before you say it - I know this might sound like an obvious statement, but more than 90 percent of the people that stand up to deliver an elevator speech have no idea what they're going to say until it's time to say it. Take a few minutes before it's your turn to speak, and think about the clearest and easiest way for you to get your message across to this group of people.

Don't start your elevator speech with your name: One of the most common ways to start an elevator speech is with your name, title and company name. While this is valuable information, it's the last thing you want to say to help grab people's attention. Instead, start with some type of question, statement or interesting comment about your business or your industry to create a higher level of interest faster.

Focus only on the benefits of what your company offers: In the sales game, people are taught that it's all about features and benefits. When it comes to elevator speeches, it's all about benefits, benefits, benefits. One of the best ways to remember this idea is to remember that when people ask you the question "What do you do?" answer the question as if they asked you, "What do you do that will benefit me?"

Dave Sherman recently released his third book, "Elevating Your Elevator Speech - A Powerful Way to Answer the Question, 'What do you do?" Visit www.ConnectionPros.com.

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