At this moment, it’s not a good idea to wing it! And it’s better not to list all of your services so you make sure nothing gets left out. That makes you sound like a beginner, and is boring as well. The most profitable solution is to create and memorize your perfect elevator speech. Here’s how.
From Your Customer’s Perspective
Put yourself in your potential customer’s shoes for a minute. What is it about your business, your products and services, and you that would interest a potential buyer? Why should they care? Why should they stop what they’re doing from their busy life and listen to you?
The problem is that your client doesn’t think like an
If you do taxes, what most clients really want is to stay out of trouble with the IRS. Of course, your
They might not necessarily want financial statements. They want to know how much cash they have, whether they can make payroll, and how much of a loan they should ask for.
A Formula for Your Elevator Speech
What matters today is solving client problems and selling solutions, not services. The good news is there is an easy formula you can follow to create your elevator speech.
We help _____(your ideal client)____(get this benefit)__ with or by__(your service)_____.
Here are some examples:
“I help attorneys discover their most profitable services by implementing QuickBooks and teaching them how to use the reports.”
“I save busy, successful business owners time and money by streamlining their
accounting books and training their bookkeeping staff on a fabulous product called QuickBooks.”
An alternate order can be:
We help _____(your ideal client)____ with or by__(your service)___so they can __ (get this benefit)__.
Here are some examples using this order:
“I streamline work-at-home moms’ accounting books so they can have more time with their kids.”
“We help insurance firms clean up their QuickBooks files for their CPAs.”
“I help contractors implement job costing QuickBooks so they can bill more for their jobs, increase their cash flow, and get excellent reports to make better estimating decisions.”
One more way to create your elevator speech is by mentioning the benefit first:
We (provide this benefit)__for___(your ideal client)____ with or by__(your service).
“I streamline the accounting books for small businesses by customizing or implementing QuickBooks.”
As long as you have the three components, service, benefit, and client, in your sentence, you are in good shape.
Here is another example:
“Our payroll service frees small business owners from being tied to your desk every Friday.”
“Tell Me More”
When you have the right elevator speech, you will know because prospects will start saying “Tell me more.” Listen for that response, and keep refining your speech until you begin to hear those three words or something close.
Your Action Item
Ready to create your own elevator speech? When you have something you like, share it with us. Post your new elevator speech below.
A great elevator speech will allow you to collect five to ten times more business cards than a ho-hum one. Work on yours, and watch your