It’s a nice idea but not a likely reality.  I’m all for having something prepared in case you do run into Oprah and she, for some reason, is ungaurded and willing to talk to you.  It’s not bad to have an Elevator Pitch, it’s just less important, by far, than having other types of messages prepared.

The truth is, you’re unlikely to run into someone who can make or break your business in an elevator and even less likely to be able to have a useful conversation with them if you do.  We’ve all heard miracle stories about the elevator pitch that turned someone into a success…we like miracle stories.  They’re more fun than telling stories about the long awkward ride where the insurance salesman, network marketer or attorney tried to convince a total stranger to do business with them.

Making the Elevator Pitch Mistake is to make the mistake of focusing on wild possibilities WHILE IGNORING the work you need to do on the tools you really need.  Instead of a fancy elevator pitch, or a super-fancy website, you might get more clients if you worked on how you package and present your services.  You might find it more useful to TRAIN your referral sources, actually teach them what to say about you.  You’d probably get more business by reconnecting with your 10 best clients, finding out why they hired you and applying that knowledge to your current prospects.

Like so many things, the Elevator Pitch isn’t a mistake all by itself.  It becomes a problem when it moves your attention from the practical to the fanciful.  Spend your time in places where it will do you the most good instead of working on snippets that require miracle opportunities to produce results.

Of course if you DO run into Oprah, tell her I’m awesome.

I had a chance to meet with a well-intentioned service provider yesterday.  He’d just been to a long meeting with two potential clients who turned out to have very little potential at all.

“They just don’t understand,” he said.  “They really have no idea what it will take to do this project successfully and they couldn’t see how I might be able to provide value.”

It doesn’t really matter which service in particular this person provides.  The truth is he could be selling legal services, or accounting, or finance or interior design.  His clients couldn’t see the value and he couldn’t help them see it without sounding like a pushy jerk.

EDUCATION

One of the MOST EFFECTIVE but LEAST UTILIZED secret to selling services is EDUCATION.

People hire service providers like lawyers and event planners and interior designers precisely BECAUSE they have an expertise that those clients do not.  Unfortunately, that often also means there is also a lot they need to know about how to hire someone like you.

• How much does a good painter charge?
• How do I tell if the CPA I’m thinking of hiring is a good one?
• Do you pay an event planner by the hour?  How much?

There are typically two types of prospective clients we find most frustrating.  One kind is just not your CHOIR.  They don’t get it because they never will.

Another type however are the great people who don’t get it because they’ve never gotten educated.  There is a lot they don’t know…often starting with how to find someone like you, how to evaluate you before the hire you and how much they should be paying for someone like you.

They might actually be GREAT clients but you’ll never know if you don’t take the time to educate them.

You may think  selling a service is tough…but try buying one.  It’s hard to feel confident about the decisions you’re making when you don’t have at least a basic education about what you’re buying.

THE GOOD NEWS

The good news in all this is that the problem is also a very effective solution.

They are missing knowledge.

You have it.

GIVE IT TO THEM!!!

WHAT TO DO

Take the time to create documents that explain how things work in your industry.  Take the time to write up a page or two on the different types of people who have a title like yours and where you fit in as far as experience, expertise, and even price.  Do a bit of research and put together a short write-up of standard pricing in your industry.  Do the work to give your clients that basic background knowledge.

If you can’t write it yourself, see if someone else already has.  Gather some resources and display them on your website or give them away prior to your first meeting.

Some specific ideas to get you started EDUCATING your potential clients all the way to the bank:

• 10 Top Mistakes People Make When Hiring a
• 5 Smart Things to Remember When Hiring a
• How Much Should a Cost?
• A Guide to Hiring a
• All Are NOT Created Equal
• 7 Surprising Things About Working with a
• Ten Tips for Finding a GREAT

These can be simple articles that you use on your website, post on your blog, submit to a magazine, or offer to email a new contact.  However you deliver them, they should all have a note at the bottom with your contact information and a short blurb about your services.

Remember:  Take the time to teach your clients how to buy services like yours and you’ll find that many more of them actually buy those services…FROM YOU.

Good News!  We’re launching several great courses to help you get good at finding good clients.  If you missed out on 60 Second Commercials 101 or Referrals 101 we’ll be offering those AGAIN as well as two BRAND NEW courses:  Identify Your CHOIR and Leads Group Strategies (a 3 hour workshop.)  Visit the Classes & Books page on our website for all the latest.

Referrals are a widely misunderstood phenomenon.

• We think that trust is key to getting referrals, yet sometimes we refer people we barely know.
• We believe that if we do a good job we will earn referrals from our customers but often our best work produces no referrals.
• We tell ourselves we could get more business if we just did a better job of keeping in touch.  So we send out a flood of postcards and Christmas cards and newsletters and yet the referrals only trickle in.
• We see some people get LOTS of referrals, despite providing the same level of service, or perhaps even a lower level and we wonder why OUR phone doesn’t ring more.

Beyond the myths and mysteries are some simple strategies that can ACTUALLY help you consistently get more referrals.

What Works Better

I can’t cover all the secrets of being more referable here but I can give you one of the biggest…and I can reduce it to one simple word:

RECOGNITION

Selling to the Choir & The Sea of Faces

Your clients need to be able to look out into the sea of faces that make up their friends, family, neighbors and associates and RECOGNIZE the people that should be your clients, your CHOIR.  (Your CHOIR is a way to describe your BEST clients…the ones who naturally “get” you and adore you.  They tend to be easier and more pleasant to work for AND more profitable.  It’s o.k. to do business with members of the “Congregation” who kind-of get you, but your CHOIR members are the people you should really focus on finding.)

That means you can’t just tell them its “people who need insurance.”   The more specific you are, the more likely you are to get the referral.

• Not So Great = “people who need insurance.”
• O.k. = “people  who just bought a new house, got a new spouse or had a new baby.”
• Best Yet = “I work with a lot of men who are driver, A-type personalities who probably work too hard and play too hard and do at least one sport that could potentially get them killed.”

I know most of you don’t just work with one type of person.  I’m not saying you should.  But most people, in an effort to get more business, end up with less business or none at all because they’re being too general and too vague.

Look Around the Room

If I tell you to identify EVERYTHING in the room you’re in, you might actually start naming a few objects close to you but you’ll likely quickly blank out.  If I say Name the RED things in the room, your brain AUTOMATICALLY starts looking for red things and making a list.

Referrals work the same way.  You’ve got to help them RECOGNIZE your clients from among the sea of 125 faces.  Being able to recognize your clients doesn’t guarantee they’ll refer them to you, but it goes a LONG way toward that goal.

(Item # 725) WANT MORE GOOD STUFF ON REFERRALS?

This month we’re doing an AWESOME class called Referrals 101.  It will be held live in Denver on April 15^th and again via a webinar on April 21^st.  This class covers some of our BEST information on referrals and how to get more of them.  And, it’s only $47.  Visit our Classes & Books page for details and to get registered.

Get Registered.

Get Results.

(or in this case, get registered & get referrals.)

60 second COMMERCIALS aren’t really commercials. They’re CONVERSATIONS. Sometimes they’re a conversation between you and a room full of people, sometimes just you and the guy in the elevator. So instead of trying to create and deliver a fabulous commercial, just have a conversation. Have a conversation the same way you have conversations all day every day. If someone isn’t interested in the topic…MOVE ON. Don’t force them to hear a long speech about your business that they’re not interested in…that’s a commercial. If you can’t find the PERFECT words, just say it like you’d normally say it.

Talk like a human being, not a radio announcer. If you sell real estate, SAY THAT. You don’t need to be cute, you don’t have to be coy, you don’t have to do a commercial. You can, you should and you need to just have a conversation. Now that we’ve got that straight, let me give you a couple ways to make your CONVERSATION interesting, ways to engage your audience and alert potential customers that they might want to hear more…

1. Tell them something interesting about why you got into your profession. One of my new favorite people does these AMAZING pastry creations. Nicole got into her profession because her favorite thing growing up was baking with her grandmothers. Now she runs a company that does all sorts of fabulous standards AND extraordinary custom pieces that become treasured memories. (See what she’s up to and get in touch via her website www.agrandefinale.com Also, my birthday is in July and the Chocolate Raspberry Present looks AMAZING.)
2. Tell them something interesting about a specific type of client. I know a great real estate agent who has recently worked with a bunch of successful, executive men after their divorces. She’s very good at helping them quickly find a place they LOVE. These are busy men who are used to having a wife to handle the details of life for them. Working with Nancy, they have someone who will not only quickly and efficiently get them into a great property that the LOVE, she will also handle details like calling Excel to have the electric set up. For busy executives, she’s a life saver. They just have to let her know what they want and she takes care of it. (I know Nancy Levine personally and she is uber fabulous, if you want to get in touch her # is 303-619-7800.)
3. Tell them something about your background that adds unexpected value to your service. I know a presentation coach who is and has been a voice-over-actor and actor’s coach for many years. While many presentation coaches approach their work with a formula (use your hands, don’t ever use your hands) her actor’s training gives her a different perspective. Hillary’s goal is to help you find your best version of your speaking. One of her clients is an executive who THOUGHT he should be some charismatic, Tony-Robbins-style-speaker. She helped him discover his own personal approach, much like each actor brings their own approach to Hamlet. This executive is a fire-side-chat type of speaker. He’s brilliant AS THAT and would probably struggle mightily as something else. (If you could use that kind of coaching get in touch with her at www.hbvoice.com)

All these strategies are based on finding your CHOIR and letting them buy vs. selling EVERYONE…or as I like to call it death by persuasion. Your job is to speak in such a way that your CHOIR, the people who are looking to do business with someone like you, can find you, recognize you and eventually buy from you. Stay focused, keep it simple and talk to people…you’ll be off to a great start.

For more help connecting to your choir, check out our upcoming classes in the classes and books section of our website. They are AWESOME. www.maverickandcompany.com

Words are no small thing. A perfect phrase can stick in your brain, can inspire you, can round up the troops and put out fires. A perfect phrase can change everything. With just over 700 words, Abraham Lincoln turned the public health hazard, the field littered with dead bodies, the horror outside Gettysburg into a turning point of the war.

YOUR WORDS

A simple 60 second commercial might not be quite so simple if it connects you to your biggest client or a lifetime of referrals. Taking the time to find the right words, investing the money to buy the right words if necessary can pay off over and over and over.

FAMOUS EXAMPLES

Consider for a minute some of these famous phrases and how different they could have been. “I have a dream.” Martin Luther King OR “Hey guys, I’ve been thinkin’.” “We have nothing to fear but fear itself.” FDR OR “Suck it up you pansies.” “Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn.” Rhett Butler in Gone with the Wind OR “Whatever, I’m outta here.” “Give me liberty or give me death.” Patrick Henry OR “Suck it England.”

WORDS MATTER

Make sure you take the time to create words that work as hard as you do. It isn’t about being perfect, but a perfect turn of phrase can make all the difference.

ONE LAST THING

Talk is cheap.Great talk is priceless. And a great 60 second commercial will cost you about 50 bucks. If you’d like to get some great talk of your own, please check out our upcoming classes at www.maverickandcompany.com

Today I’m going to sneak you one of my favorite ones.

Mistake #3: PAPER CRAP

Mistakes are usually made by people who just don’t know a better way to do things. PAPER CRAP is the mistake you make when you give people STUFF THEY DON’T ASK FOR…your brochure, your flier, even your business card. You think you’re giving them valuable treasure, they feel like they’re getting PAPER CRAP. ‘PEOPLE DON’T WANT YOUR STUFF–Here’s the thing. People don’t want your stuff. They’ve got offices full of their own paper crap and mostly, they just don’t need or want yours. Unless they ask for it, DON’T give them stuff. It doesn’t matter how pretty your brochure is, how much you spent on it or how full it is with useful information…they’re probably going to trash it the minute they’re safely our of your sight. To them, it’s just PAPER CRAP. PAPER CRAP VS. THE CHOIR–PAPER CRAP occurs when you’re trying to sell to everyone instead of doing the work to connect with your CHOIR—the people who would just love to buy from you if they only got the chance.

Sell to your CHOIR, create resources that your CHOIR would want and need and don’t bother creating or pushing PAPER CRAP.

It’s the gift that keeps on giving…the new client. And this year, Santa would like you to have a whole bunch of them. Unfortunately elves are more skilled at toy trains than people, so I’ll be playing the role of Santa’s Little Helper this year with a marketing assignment. While everyone else is goofing around on Facebook or emptying out the 7,429 emails from their inbox, you can be setting yourself up for a GREAT 2010.

SPEND YOUR DECEMBER DOING RESEARCH & RECONNECTING

December is typically a tough month to call ON clients. They’re distracted and busy and it can be tough to get decisions made. Ironically, these same facts make December a great month to CALL clients. The conversation to have is not necessarily one about the next sale, but rather the first one. Put together a list of your best clients, the ones you adore and would love to clone. Your goal is to spend some time on the phone with those people finding out: WHAT TO TALK ABOUT …How they describe you and the services you provide …What they say when they refer you to other people (if they do) …How they describe the problem or situation that made them work with you in the first place When you understand how YOUR best clients think about themselves, their situation, your services and your solution, you’ll have all the raw materials you need to develop marketing materials and sales strategies to find MORE best clients…no Santa or reindeer required.

BONUS OPPORTUNITY FOR NEW REFERRALS

Want new referrals from your old clients? One of the best ways is to use the Story Strategy while you’ve got them on the phone. Before you start your phone calls, spend some time thinking of 3 good stories about projects you’re currently working on, people you’re currently working for or awesome results you’re already achieving. Doing so is a great way to educate your clients about what you do AND teach them what to say to connect you to referrals. You can use this technique in ALL your conversations and probably should. Stories are easy to remember and that makes them one of the most efficient ways to make yourself more referable. Over time, telling enough stories to enough people will help you generate a steady flow of great referrals.

FOR BEST RESULTS ADD MAVERICK & COMPANY

I’m playing the role of Santa’s Little Helper this month and have some really great specials on marketing packages. Contact me directly, these deals will go fast, like milk and cookies in front of a fat guy in a red suit.

Naming a company is a tough thing to do. I picked MAVERICK for a range of reasons (in part, it had been a nickname of mine.) Beyond the unmistakable cool factor of the name itself however, the actual story of Samuel Maverick perfectly highlights two of the core ideas we believe in here at MAVERICK & COMPANY.

THE HISTORY

First a little bit about how the word itself became a part of our culture. The Merriam-Webster Book of New Word Histories MAVERICK: In south Texas in the middle of the 19th century lived a lawyer, Samuel A. Maverick [[1803-1870]], who was to have his name immortalized because of some cattle that happened to come into his possession. He was not a cattleman himself, but a client of his gave him 400 head of cattle in lieu of a $1200 debt. Maverick had no use for the cattle, and so left them in the care of one of his men. The cattle were never branded and were allowed to roam at will. Inclined to take advantage of this situation, neighboring cattlemen burned their own brands on the strays, which were then herded with their own. Although Maverick eventually sold his depleted herd, the term ‘maverick’ to designate any unbranded cattle caught on and spread throughout the West. By 1890 the term had acquired the transferred sense ‘a rootless wanderer.’ American travelers abroad carried this sense of ‘maverick’ with them, and the British were quick to adopt the useful appellation. . . . . .About the same time, ‘maverick’ was applied to a member of a group who refused to accept one or more of the policies espoused by that group. Political mavericks have bolted their parties, religious mavericks have been tried for heresy, and intellectual and artistic mavericks have set independent courses of pursuit, refusing to be ‘branded’ with restrictive or conformist labels.

OUR APPROACH

Here at MAVERICK & COMPANY we take a straightforward approach to working with businesses. We believe two important lessons can be taken from the story of Samuel Maverick and the mythology his story inspired. 1. BE A MAVERICK A maverick is someone who is unafraid of taking risks, breaking rules when necessary and is not someone who has a need to follow the status quo. BE a maverick. Be willing to bend, challenge or break the rules. Don’t just do things that way because you’re supposed to or that’s the way everyone else does them. Especially when it comes to building your business, one of the best things you can do is break some rules, do your own thing, go your own way and then let your competition try to keep up with you. 2. BRAND YOUR CATTLE Sometimes the simplest, most traditional solution is also the best one. Samuel Maverick lost a ton of money because he wouldn’t take the small, simple, rational step of just branding his cattle. So while it’s good to try new things and approaches, one of the other best things you can do as you build your business is to brand your cattle. There is no value in being wild for wild’s sake. Many people associate the word MAVERICK with innovative thinking, a willingness to take risks, and the cool factor often attached to people and ideas “outside the system.” Here at MAVERICK & COMPANY, we believe those things too. Alternately, less commonly and JUST as important for us is the idea that a real MAVERICK must also be willing to do the most revolutionary thing of all, play by the rules. At the heart of our brand is a deliberate tension between the renegade and the conservative. We believe that being willing to do ANYTHING gives you the extraordinary opportunity to do the SMARTEST thing-which is sometimes the flashy, risky, seems-crazy approach and sometimes is a the most simple, boring traditional one. Be a MAVERICK. Brand Your Cattle.

I didn’t really know what I was doing. I didn’t have a plan or a marketing strategy for finding new clients. I didn’t have a mentor to show me what to do or a coach to help me get it done. I didn’t have enough cash reserves for tough times. I didn’t really even know how to explain what I did. I would not recommend starting a company the way I started mine. Deciding to work for yourself is a foolish, foolish thing to do. Your company is a version of you, your mistakes, your immaturity, your impulsiveness. Everything you wish were different about you will become an exponentially bigger problem inside your business. It will, often, be uncomfortable even when it’s going really well. So you see, it was a terrible, stupid thing to start my own business. In fact, it still is.

WHAT I LEARNED FROM MAVERICK

But as I stop to look back on these past five years and five days since I became the Maverick of MAVERICK & COMPANY, I still love the terrible, stupid beautiful mess I’ve gotten myself into. Because just as your business will show you all your faults, it will also show you where to grow. If you’ll let it, your business will help you fill in the gaps of who you are as a human being. If you let it, your business will turn you into a better person, a bigger person. In that spirit, here are 5 things MAVERICK has taught me in the past 5 years and 5 days:

1. THE RAIN ALWAYS COMES—No matter how bad it is, it will always get better. Even in the dessert, even if it takes 100 years, the rain ALWAYS comes. Your job in life is to remember that, store some water and hang in there.
2. GO TO THE ZOO—I’ve learned I can’t force life to go the way I want. Often, the harder I push, the harder things become. I get more tense, less happy and opportunities dry up. In these instances, I got o the zoo to see the gorilla babies. They romp and play and tease the big male gorillas (also a terrible, beautiful, stupid thing to do.) And something about watching them, brings me back to me. When it isn’t working, stop working, go play.
3. GROW YOUR OWN CONFIDENCE—Many people get their confidence from their results. Doing it that way severely limits the amount of good you can do in the world. Your confidence level is critical to your effectiveness. You need to know how to grow your own, protect it and restore it, whether or not your have the results RIGHT NOW.
4. EVERYBODY’S AN IDIOT—I’ve now worked with thousands of people and hundreds of groups. What I’ve noticed is that everybody is an idiot. Almost nobody does all the stuff they should. Everybody could be doing it better. They’re all imperfect and it mostly works out anyway. Everybody’s an idiot, including me, and we still manage to run great companies, raise great families and make a difference in the world. MAVERICK taught me that being an idiot is the beginning, not the end.
5. I’M AWESOME—I sort of knew this before but working for myself, the way I’ve dealt with the hard times, the stuff I’ve built and the sense of humor I’ve (mostly) maintained prove to me that I am, in fact, awesome. And if that didn’t do it, the fan mail, the fan emails, the grateful phone calls, the tears of recognition and the way I see faith come back to the faces in the audience…THOSE things tell me that I am (mostly) being the person I said I would be. Knowing THAT is, as they say, priceless. I am awesome and awesomely blessed.

It’s not just beautiful, it’s a true miracle, a divine event to be able to do something you love, give the gift you’ve been given to give, and pay your bills all at the same time. The very best parts of my life are coming up with new ideas and hearing how people use them to have more of what they want and these are things I get to do ALMOST EVERY SINGLE DAY. I don’t know what will happen in the next 5 years and 5 days…I’ve at least learned not to guess or try to predict. But I can say that if the next 5 & 5 went half as well, if I was half as blessed, if I got to make half the difference I have so far…that would work for me.

Here’s to this terrible, stupid, beautiful dream of mine that came true and here’s to YOURS. Thank you, Alecia

1. La Brea Syndrome: You’ve Been Stuck for a While
2. Repeating Patterns
3. Borrow a Brain
4. Develop New Skills
5. You Have Plenty of $ but No Life
6. You’re Working Hard but Have No $ AND No Life
7. Crunch Time

1. La Brea Syndrome

You’ve Been Stuck for a While The La Brea Tar pits are a legendary collection of fossils. Animals would wander into the tar, get stuck and eventually die there. La Brea Syndrome is when you’re too stuck to be able to get yourself out. When you’ve spent weeks or months thinking you need to make a change but still haven’t made it…it’s a good idea to get professional help. You may not be able to get unstuck on your own OR it may just take a long, long time to do it. You don’t necessarily have to sign up for a year long package…a really good coach might be able to get you unstuck in a single session. How much work you need, and how long it will take will vary from situation to situation. Don’t kid yourself about whether or not you’ll be able to deal with it on your own. If it’s been going on for a long time you’re wasting money, energy and time spinning your wheels. Get help. It will definitely be worth it.

2. Repeating Patterns

Over the course of your professional life, you’ll find some patterns repeating over and over. When you have one that is particularly damaging, it’s usually worth the investment to work with someone who can help you create new processes and paradigms so you don’t keep doing the same thing over and over. One example, you overbook yourself, work really, really hard for a while and then retreat into a work coma where almost nothing gets done. This type of cycle can kill a business if it’s not properly managed. The worse the impact of the pattern is on you and those around you, the more important it is to get help dismantling it. If you’re not sure it’s all that bad, check in with the people around you. They can usually provide clear feedback about the true impact.

3. Borrow a Brain

We can’t all be experts at everything. A good reason to hire a coach or consultant is that you want to borrow their brain. An expert, or someone with a lot of experience in a particular area or industry can add enormous value to your business for the cost of just a few hours time. If a project’s success hinges on a factor or area where you don’t have expertise, consider hiring one and borrowing their brain. Technology upgrades, major changes to your sales process, even hiring decisions are all events that often justify an investment in coaching to produce the desired result or avoid costly mistakes.

4. Develop New Skills

Professionals should be consistently and strategically growing their skill sets. If you’ve identified a set of skills you want to develop, executive coaching can be a very cost effective way to get the results you want. Unlike classes which are generally designed for a general audience, a professional coach can design a program specifically for you. You’ll avoid reviewing lessons you’ve already learned and can often learn your new skills inside of a real project you’re currently working on. That way you’re producing great results as you build your skills. This is a great way to improve the R.O.I. on a coaching investment. Great examples would be leadership skills, confrontation, marketing, time management, etc.

5. You Have $, But No Life

It’s not unusual for life to get wildly out of balance. We tend to focus our energy on the places where we feel good and confident, places where it’s likely we can produce results. For many of us, that’s our work. If you find you have plenty of $, but not much of a life, a coach is a good investment. Look for one who won’t just tell you how you should live your life, but who can help you understand your true priorities and motivations and design a good life to fulfill those needs and desires. Plan to work with this person for several weeks to help you design a life you want and develop the strategies for putting in the new priorities and breaking old habits.

6. You Don’t Have Much $ OR Much of a Life

If this describes you, it’s likely you’re missing a critical component of a successful business. You may not be charging enough, you may be giving away too many freebies, you might just be working with the wrong people. You might be in an unworkable business altogether. It’s more likely however that your approach is off. A good coach with experience analyzing and diagnosing business processes can help you isolate where you’re going so wrong and get things back on track. Remember that not all of what’s true is true everywhere…meaning a solution for a corporation may not work for your small one-man-show and vice versa. Make sure you’re working with someone who has experience with either your symptoms or your specific size business, industry, etc.

7. It’s Crunch Time

When you’re buried in an avalanche of projects, when you’re getting ready to go public, when you’re growing really fast, all of these are good times to get help. When it’s crunch time, every minute matters. A coach can help you pause to do the big picture, strategic thinking and short-term planning that can make the difference between success and failure. If you don’t feel like you have time to meet with a coach, that’s probably a good sign that you need one. Just like a hiring a trainer helps get you into the gym, a coach helps get you to do the pausing and planning that often produces your best thinking and best results. They can also provide an emotional outlet to help you deal effectively with a high pressure situation.