Greetings!
During last week's Small Business Conference in Cleveland, Sally Hogshead, a marketing specialist from LA, told a stunned audience that the average attention span today is roughly eight seconds and shrinking. Not surprisingly, advertisers have recognized this, too, and TV commercials are shrinking along with attention spans. 34% of all commercials are only 15-seconds in length, supplanting the 30-second spot, just as it knocked off the full-minute pitch decades ago. If you felt it was hard to connect to a potential client with your 30 second elevator speech, now you have eight. Eight seconds to stand out and attract the attention of the potential client you are meeting. Eight seconds to present your case and make him or her wanting to hear more. It used to be that the most valuable thing was time, and now the most valuable thing is attention. So what is the most important message you can convey? Surely you cannot start out with business as usual, talking about: � We do ... � We are ... � We have ... � Our products .... Focusing your message on YOUR perception of your business and products turns most people off and leaves them asking "what's in it for me?" Our recommendation is, start with the "value" you and only your company provide to your customers in their or similar markets or market niches. Not sure what to say? It's actually not so tough. Just ask your customers: � Why they do business with you � How they got started working with you � What value they see in the relationship � What do they see as your strength � What do you do that others don't or didn't � What frustrates them about your industry as a whole After collecting this, reflect on the markets and the business they are in and define the attractivity traits. � Size, management structure and markets they serve � What industry or industry niche they belong to � What major frustration you solve for them � Why they trust and value you � What industry or industry niche could use the same service � How are the other sellers treating the customers � What needs do your customers solve for their customers
Then you have the ammunition needed to get started. We recommend a structure where you:
� State who you are
Hello, my name is Joe Mayer. I am with the Mayer Business Group, a leadership consulting and training company
� State the "value" you and only you provide to
customers in the prospect's market segment and
evidence supporting this statement
Our clients benefit from our consultants' 25+ years of executive level real world experience.
� Make a closing statement
We only work with professional organizations seriously committed to growing their employees and their bottom line
How does this sound? Short? You bet. Creating interest to learn more? So just lean forward and wait for the "can you tell me more?" question. You leaped the first hurdle.
Let me touch on one more issue. We communicate in three ways; visually (body motion, eye contact), vocally (pitch of voice, pauses, pronunciation) and verbally (what you say). 92% of the message is actually conveyed by the visual and vocal behavior. So be sure to smile and have a high energy presentation, combined with a firm handshake.
If you have his/her attention - be patient and listen to determine their needs. The rule of thumb is that you should be listening 70% of the time and advancing the conversation by asking open-ended questions. Only by clearly defining their needs and pain can we later develop solutions and create value. If we miss this step, we end up competing strictly on price. And no small to medium size business can survive by being the low-cost provider.
Try it and you will connect easier with potential clients. Always remember: You never get a second chance to make a first impression.
Hope you enjoy reading this newsletter and please let us know if you would like to read about a special topic.
Joe & Doris
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