Why should you describe your business to others in 5 to 10 seconds? How long do you think you have to get anyone's attention? 5 minutes? 2 minutes? 30 seconds? It is actually 10 seconds. I know it does not seem like a long period of time but you will be amazed what you can say in 10 seconds. It is enough time to put your foot in your mouth and then try to get it out again, and it is also enough to tell someone your expertise and have them smiling and wanting to converse about it. Of course, I would suggest that you try and put together the pitch so that you can converse about it. First of all, you need to gain the interest of the prospect you are talking with, and then you also want them to be your next client and buy from you. Is it that difficult to put forward your best foot and get them interested? Of course not! Start by simplifying your message, write down your core competencies, then describe it to the customer. Keep the customer in mind. Ask yourself, why would they want to buy from you? Then tell them why! Put on your customers shoes and see what is in it for them. This can all be accomplished in just a few seconds - they may even have time to respond to you. Just make sure that you know what you are talking about. There is nothing worse than putting you foot forward and tripping over your tongue. We will deal with how to practice in a later section of the book. Now just follow the simple rules: Define your core competency.
Describe that competency in laymans terms.
Put it in writing and see how long it takes to say. Have you ever watched another person practice their pitch? Not likely! Most people do not practice, they prefer to wing it and see what happens. If you take the time to memorize the pitch and make it a part of you and what you do, you will likely win more customers. You need to pull out that mirror and get the camera rolling to see what you look like and how you can make improvements. In this next section, we will give you some ideas on how to practice your pitch. Creating Your Pitch Why would a customer want to buy from you?
______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ What is my core competency?
______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ List the benefits of buying from you (do not list the features but state what you or your product can do for them).
______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ My Pitch
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