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.

Once upon a time there was an attorney who lived in a magical place called “Chicago.”  Our hero was a smart guy who knew that one of the simplest ways to build his business would be to develop referral partnerships.  Since he specialized in employment law, he wanted to develop a relationship with a criminal attorney.  Since neither did the work of the other, they’d be able to share business.

So our hero set out on a quest to find a criminal attorney with whom he could share referrals and live happily ever after.

He first came upon a very smart criminal attorney who was part of a very prestigious firm.  He was willing to meet with our hero and happy to send referrals back and forth.

One problem… the criminal attorney seemed rather stuffy to our hero.  He didn’t seem to find our hero’s jokes very funny.  While a very nice man and probably a very good attorney, our hero often thought, “he has the personality of a frog.”

So the situation was not ideal but what could our hero do?  He needed a good criminal attorney and wanted the wonderful referrals.  Yet when he thought about getting together with “the frog,” he cringed.  He felt tired.  He could not make himself be excited.

Our hero sat in the woods pondering his dilemma.  “I just have to suck it up,” he said to himself. “This is what professionals do.  It’s called NETWORKING.”

Luckily a passing fairy overheard him.  Unlike most fairies, this one had on a black suite and a pair of wickedly sharp high heels.  (She was very, very beautiful.)

“You don’t HAVE to work with people you don’t like you know.  You could look for a criminal attorney who is both a qualified PROFESSIONAL and has a desirable PERSONALITY.”

“Huh,” said our hero.  “I hadn’t thought of that.”

So our fairy went on to teach our hero one of the greatest secrets to referral partnerships:

If you don’t like the people you partner with, developing and maintaining a relationship will suck and you’ll do it less and less or not at all.

If, alternately, you partner with people who you do like, you’ll find it easy, you’ll do more of it, you’ll get more referrals to clients you’ll love too.

(For this service our hero gave the fairy many thanks and much praise and a heavy bag of gold coins.)

So our hero went out again, resolved to find a criminal lawyer he could stand and even enjoy hanging out with.  He found one and they went on to pass many referrals and even occasionally get together with their wives for margaritas on our hero’s back patio.  Truly, they lived HAPPILY EVER AFTER.

The End

The morale of the story, develop referral partnerships with people you really like, people who are also you CHOIR and you’ll get more done and get better referrals.

Also, pay the fairy well.  Ha ha!  No seriously.

If you’re wishing for a bit of your own magic when it comes to referrals, check out this month’s classes and put the magic fairy to work in your business.  Visit our Classes & Books page at www.maverickandcompany.com

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

These are what I call your Blue Fish people.  There is something about them, something about you, that just goes together.  When you find these people they tend to stand out in your memory…almost like a Blue Fish in a sea of Red Roses.

If you want to stand out, be remembered and get referred, I recommend you start by seeking out the people who you have that click with…your Blue Fish people.  It’ll be easy to connect with them.  It’ll be easier for them to remember you.  And because you do have that friendly connection, they’re more likely to refer you.  AND because their connections are probably a lot like them, their connections are likely to be more Blue Fish people, people you will naturally connect with as well. Don’t try to impress everyone.

Don’t try to be remembered by everyone.  And CERTAINLY do not seek referrals from everyone.  Find your Blue Fish people, the places where you fit in.  It is there you are most able to Stand Out and reap the rewards of doing so.

1. It was a generic email…which is NOT a problem.  It contained NO personal reference at ALL which IS a problem.  Primarily this is a problem because I had no idea who the person sending the email was.  I meet lots of people and maybe everyone else on her list knew her name immediately but I did not.
2. I received a second email about a week later. Good on the follow up, again bad because I didn’t want the email to begin with, had no idea who was sending it or how I might have met them and therefor the series of communications is now, technically, SPAM.
3. I write a very polite, very nice response letting the sending know I had been a member of a BNI chapter a few years ago and was not currently interested.  I also said I couldn’t remember how we had met and asked her to please remove me from her mailing list.  I added that I wished her great success with her new group. SHE NEVER RESPONDED. This was her big chance to actually communicate with me, build a relationship with me.  She could have apologized, asked questions, asked if there was anyone else I’d like to send, never explained how we knew each other…nothing.
4. Today, the coup de grace. I receive a phone call from a person who sounds like they’re two minutes away from falling asleep or comitting suicide who tells me she’s with a company that sent me an invitation to a BNI meeting.  She could not be LESS enthusiastic about talking to me or her group.  Worse than going thru the motions, she actually sounds like she’s so bored she’s in pain.  I politely inform her that I had received a couple of emails, one of which I’d responded to saying I was formerly a member and not interested in joining at this time.  She then says, “O.k. thanks,” AND HANGS UP. I know we’re all guilty of skipping a couple of steps in the interest of saving time but a couple of hints: 1. As email has become more and more widely USED, it has become more and more widely ABUSED which leads to less use.  A mass email used to have some pull, not anymore.  Any communication will go a LOT further if you can be specific, talk directly to me and at least fill in any missing information about how we know each other.  Adding a detail or two to a generic email means that yes, you sent a generic email but you also gave enough of a damn to tweak it for ME.  The least I can do is read it for you. I once watched an insurance salesman send out 500 personally signed Christmas cards, not a single one of which contained a personal message.  Better strategy, send out 50 with a personal note.  They’ll actually get read, you’ll actually forward those relationships and you’ll save at least one tree and and a bunch of stamps. 2. Respond to any response communication. It’s an opening you worked hard to create, make sure you USE it. 3. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, at least be interested in your own invitation!  If you don’t care, why should I?  You don’t have to jump up and down like a cheerleader on speed, but you could at least be interested in talking to me, somewhat happy, excited about your own event, your life, your phone, the possibility of caffeine in your future.  Sound alive…please.

Invitations are powerful tools for building relationships.  Even if people don’t accept them, it’s a real reason to be in touch, to communicate their value to you, to be on the lookout for what might benefit them…all things that help solidify their connection to you. As with all powerful things however, you must use your power for good and not evil.  Used carelessly, a badly made invitation can do a lot of damage to your relationships and reputation. Invite well and prosper.