Martin Schmalenbach » network marketing

Crafting And Using A Great Elevator Speech

Martin (Admin) — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 21:29:36 +0000

I don’t know about you, but I really struggled for YEARS to create a decent elevator speech. I wish I’d come across Terri’s work years ago!

Terri Murphy has this amazingly effective approach to crafting an elevator speech. Learn more about her at the iLearningGlobal blog.

An elevator speech is a brief description of what you do and who you do it for – like a personal commercial. It’s a key part of any marketing strategy – you should have one!

According to Terri, most people state what they do but don’t describe how they help their customers improve the quality of their businesses or their lives.

They don’t even mention how they add value or include any benefits.

And most importantly, they don’t make the other person want to continue the conversation.

If you can keep the conversation going then you are on your way to building and strengthening a relationship that can lead to doing more business in the future.

How do you craft a great elevator speech?

Terri suggests that it be brief – ideally 7-9 seconds, though it can be as long as 15-30 seconds. The idea is you can share it with somebody in an elevator during a short ride.

The shorter the message, the easier it is to remember, and to say it smoothly, clearly and with conviction and passion. Being short, every word counts, so crafting it well really is critical! The easiest way to get started is to know there are a few simple steps involved, and to start at step 1!

Step #1 is to write down all the services you provide your customers. Think about how you help them save time, money & improve productivity, for example.
Step #2 brainstorm why people choose to do business with you – why customers want to continue to do business with you and what you do to make them raving fans. Sure, there’s plenty of people who can provide what you do – so why YOU and not them?
Step #3 write out what you do in such a way that it encourages more conversation. Instead of saying “I sell real estate” say “I specialise in helping people get the most for their money when they buy or sell real estate.”
Step #4 Break the statement down. First say what you do and then describe how the customer derives benefits from working with you.
Step #5 Write out your actual elevator speech. It needs to become you, easily and spontaneously delivered, easily understood.
Step #6 Practice – lots!!

Once you are happy with it – use it! These tips from Terri can help:

Having delivered your elevator speech your very next step is to advance the relationship by asking Qs about what they do, about what’s going on for them. And then follow up with this powerful script:

Mr X, it’s been delightful meeting you. I’d like to see if I know anybody in my database that could be a good prospect for your business. How can I best refer you?

This last sentence alone will make you standout, and allow you to discover what their wants & needs really are so you can see if they’re a good fit for you. And follow up – if you ay You’ll do something, do it. After a meeting etc follow up with a personal note so you can help them remember you and the event – making it easier for you when you call.

How is you elevator speech? Are you really happy with it?

Call to action: use Terri’s 6 step process and advice to recraft your elevator speech. Why not share it here? I’d love to read them!

Terri has made a short (<15 minute) video of all of this, with some great examples. Find it on http://www.ilearningglobal.tv/

(Surf over there, click on the Video Theatre Launch button coloured blue, on the right hand side. You may have to download & install a video player – it only takes a few seconds, then select Category Channels on the right and then Sample Category Videos – the player will open, then select the PLAYLIST icon on its bottom right, and choose Terri’s video – simple!)

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Evaluating Compensation Plans

Martin (Admin) — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 12:29:20 +0000

I came across this excellent blog post by Randy Gage via a follower on twitter. It’s at http://www.networkmarketingtimes.com/blog/evaluating-compensation-plans/

I think this is an area we can all benefit from giving more thought to. In a nut shell it’s about evaluating the compensation plan from an MLM company – ‘cos what works for somebody else may not necessarily work for you!

Cheers

Martin

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STOP trying to copy the gurus too much – it will end in tears…!

Martin (Admin) — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 19:30:00 +0000

I’ve been looking at what the gurus do, how they do it, and how many others try to copy them exactly.

And I’m always curious about the claimed 95-97% of people who start out in network marketing, multi level marketing and internet marketing and fail to achieve what they really want.

I’ve been thinking about why this might be – I’ve come up with a number of contributing factors.

Some you will know.

But I bet this is one you don’t – THEY TRY TO COPY THE GURUS TOO CLOSELY!!!

Read the full article here.

With best wishes,

Martin

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Kicking And Screaming? I Don’t Think So!

Martin (Admin) — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 22:24:00 +0000

I came across the beginnings of a discussion on one of the MLM forums. It tells of a new recruit who said she signed up “kicking and screaming” – sounds like she was the victim of a hard sell. This doesn’t sound much like a recipe for success, as you’ll certainly know if you’ve read my Manifesto.

You can see my contribution to this discussion, plus the rest of the thread if you hop over to http://homebasedbusinessforums.com/forum3/11291.html

So beware!

And best wishes…

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Labour Of Love

Martin (Admin) — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 21:48:00 +0000

OK. It’s here. At last.

Ever since I saw early signs for the impending economic storm, I’ve felt driven to create The Second Income Manifesto, also known as the MLM / Network Marketing Manifesto.

And now it’s here, available to all, for free download, from
http://www.thenetworkmarketingmanifesto.com/

After you’ve read and worked through this Manifesto, you will be in a fantastically better position to make an informed decision about your next steps towards starting, or significantly growing, a second income. This is as true of you are totally new to all of this, or an established mlm operator or MLMer.

The Manifesto is both an information source and a workbook, helping you to assess your own unique situation to figure out the next steps. There’s stuff here you won’t find anywhere else, as well as some of the more well known concepts and tools – I want this to be the most convenient way to access what you need.

Anyways, enough said here – you’ll find so much more about a home based business in network marketing, and what is in the Manifesto, plus details of how to freely get hold of our own copy.

Later, as you reflect on what you have read about and in the Manifesto, your mind will be racing with all the possibilities that become known to you – almost too pumped to sleep, glad that you did download your copy…

Click on over to http://www.thenetworkmarketingmanifesto.com/ now!

Cheers

Martin

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