Business Advice Tip #10:
As part of building a marketing campaign with an “unlimited budget” your business promotion commercial (also known as an elevator speech and 60 second commercial) is a fantastic tool that can be used in a variety of networking and business opportunities to develop rapport with prospective customers. Belonging to a BNI and various other types of business groups gives you an opportunity every week to practice and really hone your commercial – and ultimately generate warm leads and new business. There are a number of things to think about when developing this tool, so that you can get the most out of it.
There are opportunities to use commercials with different lengths to meet different circumstances. Typically it’s good to have at least three to five business promotion commercials of different lengths:
• Ten second: A quick introductory commercial when you or your prospect don’t have time for a detailed discussion, but can exchange cards for a later time.
• Thirty second: Typically used at BNIs and chamber of commerce events
• One minute: Depending on the circumstances, ideal for chamber events
• Five minute: Best used when you are attending a function and are sitting at a table with potential prospects
• Thirty minute: Used for pre-arranged breakfast, lunch or dinner meetings, or meetings at offices, where you have more time to expand on your business.
With the five minute and especially the thirty minute commercial, it is critical that you put in appropriate breaks and pauses. For commercials of this length, you absolutely want to build in questions and examples to generate rapport.
Remember, you want your commercial to be engaging and also demonstrate that you and your business MEET THE NEEDS OF YOUR PROSPECT. More than anything, that is what will keep your prospect focused on what you can do for them. The pauses and anecdotes are also a good gut check to determine if your prospect is still on the same page with you.
Your personal commercial can be a powerful tool in establishing rapport with a prospective client or customer. It can also be the fastest way to a dead end if it is not used properly and if you do not have different commercials to suit different situations.
Finally, the best thing about personal commercials and elevator speeches is that they are FREE. All they require is your time and creativity to perfect them and the confidence that you know your business or profession inside and out.
Written by Certified Business Coach, Josh Slavitt – pictured here with his son Liam
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