As a business consultant and BNI Director I get to help lots of business professional make the most of their word of mouth marketing efforts. Most often I am asked to evaluate their elevator speeches. You know their “60 second infomercials’” or “Sales Manager Minutes” as they are called in “BNI”. Over the years I have discovered over 2 dozen things that a person can do wrong when presenting their sales manager minutes.
This article is the first installment of a four part series on common mistakes made during 60 second presentations. In this segment I will discuss the first 5 of these 2 dozen or so common mistakes that I seen. These 4 articles will give you the cure for these all so common aliments so that your 60 second presentations will produce result and make you more money. Eliminate a few and you will see real results. Eliminate them all and the referrals will come rolling in. So let’s get started.
Common Mistake #1. “No Hook”. It is important that your last statement be a memorable one (hopefully a positive one too). People are more likely to remember the first thing and last thing you say and your hook can help “brand” you as the go to person for your particular product or service. Make your hook different, but easy to remember. Keep it simple. Using your companies’ slogan is ok, as is rhyme for effect. Keep in mind that you want to be remembered in a positive way so don’t make it too funny or off the wall.
Common Mistake #2. “Selling to your audience”, (i.e. you BNI partners) in stead of through your audience, (i.e. referral partners). People join referral network to get referral not be sold to. Make sure you remove or change the words “you and yours” when ever possible to something else. Don’t use phrases like “everyone in this room can use this”! Change the sentence from you need to buy this to; “so when you customers does xyz, tell them about me and my service/product”. Sell to their customer not to them.
Common Mistake #3. “Not saying your Name”. It is important that you always say your name when presenting. I often hear members of various net working organization say things like, “You All know me” at the beginning of their sales manager minutes. Although this may be true, often times there are people in the room who don’t know you. These “visitors” to your net work meeting are clueless to who you are. They could very well need your product or service and with out your name in hand, they may have to leave with out being able to connect with you. Get use to saying your name every time you present and you will never miss an opportunity with a visitor.
Common Mistake #4. “Going to short!” It is important that you use every second of your time when doing a 60 second presentation. You did pay for that time didn’t you? Would you go to a radio station and pay for a 60 second commercial and be happy when you only get 30 second of air time? No way! Create 60 second presentation, (or what ever time frame you are given). Use the whole amount of time allotted. So remember this. If you meet 50 times a year you only get 50 minutes a year for this type of advertising. If you’re in a BNI chapter don’t waste these precious moments. If you’re in any other networking organization the same goes for you!
Common Mistake #5.” Going too long!” If your sales manager minute goes too long, you quickly start to lose credibility with your audience. “Going to long”, is being disrespectful of the other time. It also makes you look unprepared and unprofessional. Rehearse and time your 60 second presentations. Take advantage of the spot light you’re given.
In my next segment I will discuss 5 more common mistakes made during 60 second presentations. Each segment will cover 5 or 6 topics. All of these common mistakes affect you’re ability to get qualified referrals from the people you meet. Eliminating these common mistakes will greatly increase your result and land you that dream referral you’ve been looking for. Until then, work on these and let me know how it’s helping you. If you would like to know more about this subject, visit my free blog to read several other articles covering word of mouth marketing.