Your Elevator Introduction: Sell Yourself, Sell Your Firm
By Tom Boogher, CPSM, & Richard Cilley, CPSM
Everywhere you go you should be on the lookout for new contacts and potential prospects. Business happens everywhere these days, not just in sales calls and at networking events.

One of the best sales tools is to develop an effective, memorable introduction you can deliver quickly and comfortably that puts you and your firm squarely into a contact's mind and gives you the opportunity to create a dialogue which can lead to sales success.

We call it an Elevator Introduction because the dialogue involved can be delivered in those idle 20 to 30 seconds you are waiting for an elevator, or waiting to be seated in a restaurant, or waiting to check into a hotel, or waiting to check in for a flight, or at an association meeting ...or anywhere you need a quick, effective introduction.

Our Current Elevator Introduction
Most professionals already have a de facto Elevator Introduction and it goes something like, "I'm George Jones with the Rumpus Group." If enough times, just out of curiosity, someone has responded with, "So, George, what do you do at the Rumpus Group?" and George has dutifully appended, "Oh, I'm an architect," then the Elevator Speech may have expanded to, "I'm George Jones, and I'm an architect with the Rumpus Group. And what do you do?" The response from the other party is usually just as illuminating and both parties idly speculate about why the elevators are so slow, the restaurant so crowded, the hotel jammed, or the flight heavily booked.

And unless the contact is extremely sociable, or is looking for architects as prospects themselves, that's the end of the dialogue. You really don't know anything of substance beyond a name and a company you probably have never heard of. A potential client may be walking off into the elevator, the restaurant, the hotel, or the airport gate lounge, but who's to know?

Re-Evaluating Our Elevator Introduction
So what SHOULD we be communicating in these brief, sometimes awkward, encounters? At least four categories of information:

1. your name, job function, the name of your firm, and a creative way to explain how you help people
2. what the potential client's name, job function, and firm are and the business they do
3. how your firm, if possible, could help them
4. how you can be contacted later.

Creatively Communicating How Your Firm Helps People
The exchange of personal names and firm names is easy and natural; it's the second part that requires some thought. Too often when we've asked people, "So, George, what does the Rumpus Group do?" the response is something like, "Ah, we're architects and engineers. (Pause) And we've got some landscape architects, too." If pressed further, George might add, "We do playgrounds and stuff, mostly."

While these are true statements, it's like saying Saddam Hussein is a politician. It leaves a lot of important information out of the picture and it's not particularly memorable. Since we already know George is an architect, and we may or may not be familiar with what it is that architects and engineers actually do beyond somehow work to put up buildings, we are left to speculate about in what way his firm may actually provide "playgrounds" and whether that has any significance for our working lives.

TELL PEOPLE HOW YOUR FIRM HELPS ITS CLIENTS AND WHY YOU DO IT IN LANGUAGE THEY CAN UNDERSTAND! No one should have to play 20 Questions to figure out why the Rumpus Group is in business; George should make it obvious.

"I'm George Jones, and I'm an architect with the Rumpus Group. We create desirable spaces for all kinds of indoor and outdoor recreation for schools, daycare centers, gymnasiums, healthcare facilities, and parks. I personally specialize in working with the caregivers of handicapped children to provide those kids with great, safe playspaces that meet their needs."

Suddenly, in 10 to 20 seconds, a listener has a grasp of the problems the Rumpus Group solves and some insight into how George could help them if they or their company have congruent needs.

Have you ever thought about what problems your firm solves for its clients? How can you translate that information into plain language everyone understands but that expresses the breadth of what you do? George didn't say, "Oh, well, we do playgrounds." Instead, he pulled out a creative way of expressing the Rumpus Group's mission. It may or may not have been taken from the group's Corporate Mission Statement, but it makes sense and is memorable because it deals in specifics. Any prospect immediately has a solid idea of what the Rumpus Group does.

Is Your Thinking About Your Firm Too Small?
"We are a 'real-estate facilities consulting organization,' not just an 'interior design' firm."
—Jean Bellas, Founder, SPACE

If you think of yourself as a designer, what dilemmas do you resolve for your clients? If you think of yourself as a constructor, what kinds of projects do you build and how does that make your clients' lives better? How can you accurately provide a clear and entertaining (that means memorable) description of the markets you serve and the types of problems you solve?

Think big picture. What does your firm REALLY provide to clients? At the lowest level it may be plans and specifications, but in reality your firm is providing some kinds of solutions or resolutions, and you need, as George did, to think about what your clients are really getting from your team and put that into simple and memorable terms.

No one forgot the introduction of a healthcare architect at a marketing seminar who introduced her firm with the line, "We design hospitals and clinics that help damaged people heal." Years ago at an SMPS chapter meeting in Austin in a round-robin of introductions, an executive for a major national contractor stood up, gave his name and job title, and then summed up his firm with a simple tag line that has stood in memory: "We build roads and highways anywhere in America that get you where you need to go." At another SMPS meeting in Chicago, the business development representative for a steel erection company summarized his group by saying, "Our company builds the skeletons on which hang the muscles of some of the most exciting buildings in Chicago." Be bold and think big about how you can make your introduction memorable.

Use Your Elevator Introduction to Lead into the Future
The average person's business concerns tend to be very self-centered. They want to hear what you can do for them. Identifying their priorities and asking them good Open-Ended Questions (OEQs) to discover their concerns are the best ways to create the rapport you need to determine whether or not they are a prospect.

We said in the beginning that the Elevator Introduction could lead to a dialogue that allows you to elicit the information you need to find out if your firm can help this contact's company. You can't communicate to a prospect how you can help until you know what sort of help they need. The best way to do that is to use Open-Ended Questions to discover their priorities and problems so you can respond effectively.

Some typical, productive OEQs that are representative of what you should be asking are:

• "How often have you been adding new stores?"
• "What's been your experience with building new office facilities?"
• "How do your customers react to new product kiosks in the renovated stores?"
• "How do you determine who will help your company expand?"
• "Why is that a deciding factor for you guys?"
• "How does your group support the County Hospital District?"
• "If you could build that again, what would you change about the storage systems and the warehouse?"
• "Are there any other factors you would use to determine success for an expansion office?"

Based on what you hear from the contact you have made, you can craft a way to qualify if the person is a prospect for you or for someone you may know and set up a link to further the relationship. Never forget that one of the ways to nurture your network is to pass along qualified prospects to your friends and, when you encounter a group that could really use help from a friend or client, link them up. Also, never forget to give the contact at least a business card so they know how to contact you.

Once you have determined that you CAN help them, you can start to explain HOW you can bring them concrete help and follow up for THE NEXT STEP:

• "We have a corrosion engineer on staff who really understands how to deal with those leaks and deteriorating connections. Could we set up a time for him to meet with you and your facilities guy?"
• "Deciding whether to expand the school's current stadium, replace the stadium, or relocate a new stadium to a larger site is difficult, and you need to think about a lot of factors. Could I get our Sports Facilities Team together with you next week, and they could discuss with you some ideas about how to make that decision?"
• "Our Medical Equipment Group is really up on the latest technology and best practices for clinical services. Since you're in Dallas maybe you could have lunch with the head of that group next week and he could discuss how they have helped other clinics save time and money on their labs."
• "We have two very gifted retail store architects who have done some inventive work for large national chains like yours.  Would you be able to meet with one of them in New York while you're there for the convention at the end of the month?"

If this contact is a real prospect, now is the time to try and find a concrete way to enhance the relationship with your firm. Set up an appointment, a presentation, a lunch, a ball game, a briefing, something that will help the prospect learn more about your firm and create personal relationships with your folks. After you make these arrangements, FOLLOW UP. Make it your PERSONAL mission to assure that your firm follows up effectively with the prospect. Take the lead in assuring that you present your firm's best shot at converting that prospect into a client.

Making the Elevator Introduction Your Own
The final step is to make your introduction as natural and effortless as possible, and you accomplish that by repetition. After you've written up a good and effective Elevator Introduction, memorize it by saying it again and again to yourself for a day and then start using it every time the opportunity arises. Don't forget the old Roman proverb, "Repetitio mater memoriae. Repetition is the mother of memory." As you use and hone your Elevator Introduction, it will come more naturally to your tongue, and you'll feel more comfortable using it and reaping the benefits.

About the Authors
Richard Cilley, CPSM, is CEO of Transcendent Consultants (www.transcendentconsultants.com), and Tom Boogher, CPSM, is Executive Vice President of Professional Service Industries, Inc. (www.psiusa.com). Richard and Tom have a combined 50-plus years of experience in marketing and sales within the A/E/C industry.

This is the third column in a new monthly series. Hosted by SMPS' Business Development Institute, this column provides tips, best practices, and suggestions on how to excel at sales and client development. Remember that nothing happens in business until you make a sale! The Business Development Institute is a Specific Interest Group of SMPS with the goal to promote, inform, and educate the A/E/C industry on the importance of sales and the necessity for business development best practices.
 
Your comments, feedback, suggestions and questions are encouraged. Please drop either editor an e-mail with any input. You can reach Tom Boogher at tom.boogher@psiusa.com or Richard Cilley at rcc@transcendentconsultants.com. [ return to top ]