We're continuing our episode interview series featuring Sam Horn of Intrigue Agency…
Jon Cook:
We also have what I call the unwilling, captive audiences that were in the elevator. Sam, what's your take, your approach to getting rid of elevator pitches and replacing it with something more meaningful?
Sam Horn:
Thank you. I have a post on LinkedIn that's gone viral, has hundreds of thousands of views, and the title of it is “Why Never To Give Another Elevator Speech And What To Do Instead”. I also spoke about this at Inc 500.
So, a woman from Oklahoma, she was Entrepreneur of the Year for her state, and I said, "Colleen, what do you do?" *Wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah, wah* At the end of 60 seconds, Jon, no one in the room knew what she did, and she was a CEO. And now, think of the lost opportunity cost, right? I mean, these are some of the top entrepreneurs in the country, but no one's going to talk to her, partner with her, et cetera. So I said, "Colleen, can we talk more?" She said, "Sure." I said, "Okay, #1, what do you do that we can see, that we can smell, that we can taste, that we can touch? Instead of, “I have a platform for blank,” and it's conceptual and confusing, we can't see it, we don't get it?
So she said, "I run the facilities that run MRIs and CAT scans." I said, "Good. Don't tell people that." She said, "Don't tell people that?" I said, "If someone says what do you do, and you say, 'I run the facilities that run MRIs and CAT scans', what are they going to say?" That's the end of the conversation. We don't want to end conversations. We want to open conversation. So, I said, "Turn it into a three-part question."
She said, "What's this about a three-part question?" I said, "If you say, 'have you ever had an MRI or CAT scan?' And they say 'No,' hah, we're back to a conversational cul-de-sac, right?" [inaudible 00:01:52] like an interrogation. The person is backing up because it's like, "Whoa." But if we say, "Do you know anyone?" Could be yourself, could be a friend, could be a family member.
You see where we're giving them control of the conversation? They get to go wherever they want, whatever's most relevant for them or recent. "Who's had an MRI or CAT scan?" They'll probably going to think about it and they'll say, "Oh, well, my daughter had an MRI. She hurt her knee playing soccer." Now we simply paraphrase what it is they said with what we do. "Oh, that's what I do. I run the facilities that offer MRIs like the one your daughter had when she hurt her knee playing soccer."
So the steps of this are, from now on, when someone says, "What do you do," don't tell them. That's infobesity, oh, end of conversation. Instead, ask a three-part question. Do you know anyone? Could be yourself or friend or family member who has, and then put in the real world results of what you do and stop talking. [inaudible 00:03:00] say something, even if, well, I haven't, but my wife has, or, yeah, well I, and then simply paraphrase what they said with what they do, because that's confirming the connection.
It's under 60 seconds. Now, we have a meaningful, mutually rewarding conversation and we're off and running instead of, “What do you do,” “This,” “Oh…next.”
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The Keynote Clarity for Thought Leaders Flash Briefing is presented by Jon Cook, founder of Keynote Content. Jon and his team help thought leaders, namely speakers, coaches, and consultants, craft and share their messages to better serve their audiences. Connect with Jon and his team at Keynote Content by visiting keynotecontent.com. You can subscribe to The Keynote Clarity for Thought Leaders Flash Briefing by visiting bit.ly/KeynoteClarity and enabling it there. Then, all you have to say is, “Alexa, what’s my flash briefing?”
