Last time, we constructed the basic elevator speech. Now let’s add some twists.
The first time I heard the speech (long, long before you were born little grasshopper) it came at me from an insurance salesman. We were standing around at a party, and the quickest way of emptying the room at ANY party is to say “Hi. I sell insurance”.
“You know” he began, “how people hate buying insurance. The hassle, the pushy salespeople, the hundred different policies and hidden clauses …”
Me: “You bet!”
Him: “Well I BUY insurance for people, to save them the grief.”
Me “Wow.”
Pause.
Him: “Would you like me to buy some for you?”
Aaagh! Gotcha! He was, of course, an insurance salesman who worked for a broker, rather than a life company. His TWIST — to his ‘elevator speech’ — was the: “Would you like me to buy some for you.”
You can also use this when you believe that you are dealing with a genuine prospect.
You: “You know how it’s critical to get consumers INTO a store so that they can see what’s on offer? If they don’t come in — they can’t buy, can they? Well what I do is: find truckloads of the right consumers and bring them into stores, so that the store owners can sell to them!”
Pause.
“Would you like me to find some for you?”
HOW you will bring in the people is then the subject of your full sales conversation.
The ‘elevator speech’ is your Attention-Grabbing and Quick-Qualifying script. You briefly describe a problem, and state that you can solve it.
Again. You describe a problem or pain and say you can fix it. That’s all. If the person you are talking to has the problem, they’ll ask you to tell them some more. If the problem you solve is irrelevant to them — they won’t. No fuss, no muss.
That’s your plain vanilla ‘elevator script’. Of course as an adsales expert, you’ll add some tasty flavours to it. Either:
Juice up the problem. Or. Add spice to your solution.
Warning. You DON’T want to make your ‘workday’ elevator script too exotic. Don’t add the extras to the elevator script you use to a total stranger in a low-key setting.
The extras can make it sound ’salesy’ — like a high-pressure pitch. If you’re running in a charity ‘fun run’ and somewhere around the 4 mile point another runner dressed as a white rabbit pulls up alongside and asks: ‘What do you do?’ just stick with the plain vanilla facts: “You know the XXX problem? I fix it”.
BUT. Imagine you’re at a sales convention or some high-energy event and there’s some serious bragging to be done. Everybody looks at you and EXPECTS you to put some major spin on the ball. Now what?
You just juice up the problem.
JUICING UP THE PROBLEM
You say: “You know how … the single major cause of business failure today is the lack of customers? How failure to attract enough people causes the enterprise to sink under a mountain of debt … as the costs pile up but not enough sales are made to cover those costs? You know how this leads to blighted lives, ruined families, depression, despair and SUICIDE?”
Pause.
“Well — I save people, by finding customers for them.”
Or: “You know how a business person who cannot find enough customers is doomed to failure? How that person paces their bedroom floor at night, unable to sleep for the fear and terror of going bust and losing everything that they own and have worked for all their lives? How they can see disaster coming down the road at them because they can’t attract enough paying clients?”
Pause.
“Well, I fix it for them. I find them more customers than they can handle.”
SPICING UP THE SOLUTION
Alternatively, you can put a little romance into your solution. Say:
“You know how many businesses are aching for new customers?”
Pause.
“Well, using a combination of ideas and techniques I bring joy into peoples lives when I bring them more customers than they can handle. Once they have enough customers, even the most dour business people become sunny, radiant, and glad to be alive. Just the other day, Pete Harriman of Harriman Brothers said to me: ‘Thanks to your help we now have a wonderful business bringing in more sales and profits than I ever dared to dream about. I’m happier than I’ve ever been in my life.’
And if you’re impressing your favourite aunt with your elevator speech, you load up both barrels — hype BOTH the awfulness of the problem AND the awesome way you fix it, for the benefit of all mankind. Amen.
VARIATIONS
Of course, finding new business is not the ONLY problem which advertising solves. Bigger companies advertise to gain brand recognition, or to appear more successful than their competition, or to boost the morale of their own staff (‘Did you see our full-page ad this morning? Boy, is this a great company to work for!’).
So. You need SEVERAL ‘elevator speech’ scripts, depending on the person you’re talking to. Once you have your MAIN script down pat, consider this:
You’re standing by an elevator in Coca Cola’s headquarters, and the most senior marketing executive you’ve ever met turns to you and says: ‘Hi, I haven’t seen you around here before, what do you do?’
You’re going to tell Coca Cola that you can double their world wide sales? What have you been smoking recently? But you can’t just stand there with your mouth open, blowing bubbles … So what PROBLEM do you GUESS Coca Cola’s marketing team might like solved?
You: “You know how you need to TEST advertising campaigns as inexpensively but as accurately as possible? How you need to find an advertising vehicle which will help you to PREDICT exactly how an advert will play all over the country and the world?”
Pause.
“Well, I represent that vehicle …”
Coke Suit: “O.K.! Tell me about it …” (Or. “How interesting. Goodbye.”)
WHEN do you use your ‘basic’ elevator script? All the time.
1. Whenever you meet a ’suspect’ (someone who MIGHT want to advertise)
2. For a radio advert or phone-in show: “Hi there. I’m a first time caller, but you know how some businesses are crying out for a way to find new customers …”
3. On outbound telephone calls (but there are more specific scripts — see our website)
4. On a postcard
5. As graffiti on the restroom wall of your major client “You know how XXX is a MAJOR problem? Ring 6374589 to fix it”
The ‘elevator speech’ is your IDENTITY. It’s what you do. And what you do as an ad sales person is — you SOLVE A MAJOR PROBLEM for your clients. The New Business Problem.
