I can give you a bad mood just like I can give you a bad cold and neither of us may be aware of the transmission. People are finely attuned to each other and researchers continue to learn the subtlety and sharpness of human resonance. My interaction with you will affect each of us both consciously and in ways of which we are unaware. Not convinced? Read this excerpt from Daniel Goleman's new Social Intelligence: The New Science of Human Relationships.
Knowledge of this vibrant but invisible communication crisscross between people may improve some elevator speeches. (Your elevator speech is how you would answer the question "What do you do"? if asked in a elevator; it has to be short, compelling, and complete before the ride is over.) Many networking events sound like dueling elevator speeches (and look like drive-by business card deliveries). Participants are worn down and the moods being caught are likely not good.
How do you craft an elevator speech that does not create in the listener a chilling feeling of sales sniffles? Maybe you cut it in half or don't use one at all.
Today's edition of MarketingProfs.com included "The Myth of the Elevator Speech" in which its author Doug Stern says:
Since professional service providers tend to spend a lot of time in their head, they're ready to pitch at the slightest glimmer of interest from another human being (prospect). The brain is the default filter for everything.
Lawyers, for example, might offer an elevator speech along the lines of "I add value to leading privately held companies by addressing the sophisticated legal issues relating to complex ownership succession."
How does that elevator speech make you feel? Kind of like you just caught chicken pox or narcolepsy?
Stern says the question "What do you do?" is a way to create a person-to-person connection and is not prompted by a desire to know what you do for a living.
The question is about someone needing something to break the ice. They could just as well be saying, "Nice tie. It reminds me of my Uncle Miltie." To which you might respond in a similarly personable and engaging manner.
My friend Bob Burg is the master of "personable and engaging." In his Endless Referrals, he talks about "the bronze, silver, golden and even platinum rule of networking":
All things being equal, people will do business with, and refer business to, those people they know, like, and trust.
The purpose of networking events or interactions according to Burg is to begin the fostering of the "know you, like you, trust you feelings." How? Certainly not by dropping elevator speeches in all available ears. His suggestion (and it works) is to ask questions. The best preparation you can do for networking is not rehearsing your elevator speech but is having in your head several questions you can ask so that people feel good about you and themselves.
Burg includes in his book a list of questions. Just a couple:
What separates you and your company from the competition?
What do you see as the coming trends in [your profession/business/industry]?
Any networking interaction is about them, not you. Concentrate on the people you meet. That's using your social intelligence; that's developing business; that's depositing some contagious good vibes in the network of life. You can be a great networker without an elevator speech. Networking can be fun and easy. Did I catch a sigh or two of relief out there?
Note (added November 21, 2006, 8:15 PM Mountain): Here's an interview of Bob Burg about his approach to networking at BusinessNetworkingAdvice.com. Here's my interview at BusinessNetworkingAdvice.com.
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