LOOK WHO’S TALKING!!!

As a business owner or as a representative of a company, you are a walking, talking advertisement.

You’re an advertisement for quality work you’ve already done and a promoter for work you’d like to do.  And that means two things:

1. It sounds simple, but you need to know a few excellent examples of work you’ve done and what might appeal to people you meet;
2. You need to think about where you want your business to be and explain that succinctly and expertly to your audience.

The good thing about being prepared is that if you’re ever caught off guard, you’ve got something quick to say.  If you’re a graphic designer, you don’t have to tell people who ask what you do every logo, every re-branding exercise, and every billboard you’ve worked on.  Just focus on examples that people will be impressed by, or high profile clients that will illustrate a trust in your abilities. 

Remember, the aim is to interest your listener enough for them to either think they need your service, or at the very least, someone they know may need your service.

Michael Port in his novel ‘Book Yourself Solid’ suggests that we include 3 things when you talk about ourselves:

1.       Start by clarifying ‘who’ you help;

2.       Mention ‘how’ you help them;

3.       Explain ‘what happens’ when you help them.

To illustrate this point, let’s look at an example:  Let’s say you’re an interior designer specialising in home renovations and you’re at your next door neighbour’s enjoying a BBQ.  You’re talking to one of the guests when they ask what you do.  If you hadn’t done any preparation or if you didn’t know better, you could be excused for a response akin to: “I’m an interior designer.”

Now the person you’re talking to may have had a terrible experience with an interior designer, who had appalling taste and who had completely ripped them off.  “Oh, well…an interior designer…great….well, we used an interior designer and geez, what a disaster!  They knew nothing about interior design and they didn’t listen to a word we said, we’d never use an interior designer again!”  BANG!  You might as well say your goodbye’s and grab another glass of vino.

But imagine if we approached the response following Michael’s advice, your response might go something like this:

“Well, thanks for asking, I actually help home owners (1) improve the look and feel of their home (2) to ensure they enjoy their home life and maximise their profits (3) when selling their properties.”

The person listening might need some interior design in their home, or maybe they know someone looking to sell their home.  Who knows?!  But by focusing on a target market and focusing on how you help them achieve an outcome, you’ve opened up a potential business opportunity by explaining who you help, how you help them and what happens when you do.

So give it some time.  It’s worth spending some quality time understanding your target market, drawing on what you do and explaining the results you get.  If you can combine that with a couple of examples of where you’ve done it successfully, you’ll be on the path to opening up a myriad of opportunities.

Remember, you never know where the next business venture might come from, and the best ones are typically the ones from ‘left-field’.  Don’t sell yourself short….you are a walking, talking advertisement, so treat yourself like one and invest some time in yourself, after all, if you’re not going to sell yourself, then who the devil is???

Happy business!