You Just Made Your One Minute Matter!

End your sixty second presentation by repeating your name and the name of your company.

Add in your Memory Hook if you have one, and then smile and sit down.

If you’ve followed the guidelines set out here and in the previous slides, then you just made your one minute matter!

Congratulations! Well done.

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We’re committed to building your confidence!

Mary Carol Holbert, Director / Trainer

Stand Up & Deliver

Practice your sixty second introduction before you deliver it. There is no substitute for practice – your one minute matters!

Suggestions:

• Practice in front of a mirror.

• Record or video yourself to see how you look and sound. (Video highly recommended!)

• Practice in front of friends or advisors and ask for their comments and input.

Be sure to time yourself – 60 seconds is not 70 or 80 or 90 seconds! Many networking events will use a timer.

Be warm, friendly, confident, and enthusiastic.

Don’t rush your speech. Maintain eye contact. Project your passion.

This is your minute to shine. Make it count!

Mary Carol Holbert, Director / Trainer

First Impressions

Your personal appearance is part of your brand. Make sure it’s working for you!

Hair, clothes, grooming, attitude… all leave lasting impressions on your target.

What impression do you want to create and leave behind?

•Do you want to appear professional? Out-of-the-box? Artistic?

•You probably do not want to leave the impression that you are sloppy, bored, frightened, or disorganized…

Keep your introduction ‘conversational’, effortless, & natural sounding.

Make your presentation memorable and sincere.

Don’t be sorting through papers or notes as you are speaking. You don’t want anything distracting your listeners from your message.

Smile. Speak clearly. Project with enough volume to reach the person most distant from you.

First impressions matter. Make yours an asset.

Mary Carol Holbert, Director / Trainer

Your Stories

Personal stories are one of the best ways to connect with others on a human level. You may see your listener’s eyes glaze over when you recite facts or data. If you want to generate interest and excitement, tell a story.

If you can tell a 20-second story about what makes you or your product different from the competition, or relay a recent story about how your products or services addressed another client or customer’s pain, you are more likely to be remembered.

Good stories stick with people far longer than data or facts. You want your target to remember you long after your introduction has ended – when it’s time for the client or customer to purchase goods or services.

In this day and age, we are drowning in data. People don’t want more data – they want human connections. They want to know who they can trust. A personal story can touch the hearts and minds of your listeners. Stories create connections that mere data cannot begin to forge.

Let your personality shine through in your sixty second introduction. Tell a story!

Mary Carol Holbert, Director / Trainer

Outline Your Pitch

Start outlining your 60 Second Introduction, using bullet points as you answer the following questions:

• Who am I & what Company do I represent?
• What are my Products and/or Services?
• What problem/challenge/gap/opportunity do my products or services address?
• What makes me stand out from my competition?
• What action should my target take as a result of hearing my pitch?
• What would be a good Memory Hook for me?

Don’t focus on yourself as you jot down answers to the questions. Self-focus may elicit a “So what? Who cares?” reaction from your targets/listeners.

Focus instead on the benefits you bring to your potential clients & customers. Concentrate on “what’s in it for them”!

Want our “One Minute Matters: The 60 Second Introduction Worksheet” for use in drafting and delivering your introduction? Join our Speaker’s Earned Edge email list, and you’ll be able to download the worksheet and use it as a helpful “go-by”.

Mary Carol Holbert, Director / Trainer

Start Writing

Now that you’ve done your prep work, it’s time to start writing your 60 Second Presentation.

As you work through the rest of the steps, I encourage you to write, rewrite, and continue rewriting. Each time through, sharpen your focus, eliminating any unnecessary words and rephrasing any unnatural or awkward wording.

Use natural, conversational language – your pitch shouldn’t sound canned or stilted.

To get an idea of how many words you will be able to fit into your minute, read out loud from a newspaper for one minute, being sure to speak at your normal pace – not overly fast or slow. Count the number of words you read for an estimate of your speaking pace. You may want to try three different articles, counting the number of words read each time. By averaging your three results, you will have a good idea of your speaking rate per minute.

Most people speak somewhere between 90 – 130 words per minute. Obviously, you don’t want to develop a 300 word introduction if you find that your speaking rate is 100 words per minute.

Stop by tomorrow and see how to start outlining your elevator speech.

Mary Carol Holbert, Director / Trainer

Memory Hooks

Good memory hooks should be descriptive, brief, and stick with your listener long after your pitch is over.

The memory device may play on the company's or individual’s name, services, or products. Sometimes the phrases rhyme. Some may actually be set to music and sung.

The best memory hooks are creative, unexpected, and / or humorous.

Example of an effective memory hook we've all heard: “Say it with flowers.”

If you can develop a clever memory hook, you can use it as part of your branding. Use it not only in your 60 second introduction, but also on your website, your correspondence, your advertising, your packaging, your sales materials, and your electronic broadcasts.

A strong memory hook is a mechanism to make you stand out from the crowd.

BNI has a great site listing hundreds of examples. You may want to check it out:

https://sites.google.com/a/lboeco.com/memoryhooks/Home/sample-memory-hooks

Spend a little time thinking about possible memory hooks for your company, products, or services. Write them down. Say them out loud. Try them out on friends, family, or colleagues to gage their effectiveness.

Mary Carol Holbert, Director / Trainer

What Amazes & Delights You?

Spend five minutes reflecting on your work, your product, and/or your service.

What aspects of what you do or what you sell amazes and delights you?

Write down any words and phrases that come to you – don’t be concerned about making sense or uncovering connections between the words and phrases that come to you. You will have time to draw those connections later.

The less time you spend trying to making sense of what you are writing, the more authentic your results will be. This exercise will help you voice your passion and purpose at a later time.

Choose two or three words you find particularly interesting, meaningful, or evocative, and look them up. Jot down all their meanings and associations (synonyms / definitions / origins / etc.) Antonyms may be revealing, too…

Reflect on your chosen words and write down any “aha” revelations you discover.

Did you find anything that created a sense of discord? Did you uncover any richer, deeper truths?

Keep your notes – even if you don’t use all of them in crafting your pitch, you may find you wish to use them later.

Mary Carol Holbert, Director / Trainer

Prepare to Write

You’ve done your homework. Now make some critical notes as you prepare to write your elevator speech.

• List your key strengths

• List adjectives you would use to describe yourself

• List the products or services you seek to sell

• List what you want others to know about you

• Why are you pitching to the company or industry the person you’re presenting to represents?

Don’t undersell your strengths.

Be authentic, honest, and open. Reveal something of yourself to others.

Be specific as you write!

Mary Carol Holbert, Director / Trainer

Know Yourself

In order to convince anyone to purchase your products or services, you need to know exactly what those products and services are.

What is your unique sales proposition? What sets your company, products, or services apart from the competition?

You also have to identify your target customers or clients. Who are your ideal customers or clients? Where do they frequent? What can you offer them?

Define clearly and precisely what you are offering, what problems you are solving, what gaps you are filling, & what benefits you bring to a prospective customer or client.

(If you’re seeking a job, what unique experience, talents, skills, or abilities do you bring to a prospective employer?)

Answer these questions as your next step in preparing to craft your 60 second introduction.

Mary Carol Holbert, Director / Trainer

Know Your Audience

Before you start developing your Elevator Speech, be sure to research your audience.

What do they need that you can offer? What are their problems, challenges, gaps, or opportunities?

How familiar are they with you or your business? What do they already know about your products or services?

What are their biases? Their filters? Their experiences? Their interests?

How can you connect your topic to something that matters to them? What is it they care about?

An Elevator Speech targeted to your specific audience has a far greater chance of success than a generic pitch.

Your Homework for today is to answer these questions as completely as your can. Your work will pay off when it’s time to craft your 60 second introduction.

Mary Carol Holbert, Director / Trainer

Do Your Homework

The first step to developing and delivering an effective elevator speech is to do your homework.

The more prepared you are, the better your chances of success.

While extemporaneous speaking skills are desirable, the 60 second introduction is too important to shortchange. Over the next several days we’ll reveal how to prepare, write, and deliver your speech naturally and effectively.

Are you ready to do your homework? Your first assignment comes tomorrow…

Mary Carol Holbert, Director / Trainer

Stand Out!

A ‘generic’ elevator pitch is likely destined to fail. How do you make certain your pitch stands out in a crowd?

Be sure to keep ‘tuning in’ to this website to find the secrets to success! Every day we’ll reveal a new idea, step, or technique.

By the end of this series, you’ll have the tools to develop and deliver a 60 second introduction that shines. Remember, one minute matters!

Mary Carol Holbert, Director / Trainer

The Elevator Speech

One Minute: Time for the average elevator ride

That’s why the one minute pitch is often called “The Elevator Speech”.

One minute is how long you have to create interest in your product, service, or company. You can’t afford to take those 60 seconds casually.

The quality of your pitch can mean the difference between getting a second meeting or going home empty-handed…

Mary Carol Holbert, Director / Trainer

One Minute Matters!

One of the most critical skills a businessperson can have (particularly a business owner or any salesperson) is the ability to talk with confidence and intelligence about their business to others.

 

You often have only a few seconds to pitch the unique features of your products or services.  Therefore it’s essential that your message immediately attracts your listener’s attention, creates excitement, and is memorable.  This quick, concise summary of your company, products, and services is a fundamental business tool you need to know how to develop and use. 

Speaker's Earned Edge can teach you to create, tailor, and deliver a winning one-minute presentation for your specific audience.

Mary Carol Holbert, Director / Trainer