In the world of networking, you better be able to nail your 30 second pitch or go home. You don’t want to sound like a snake oil salesman, but you do want to be concise in your communications.
In order to help you get there, here are a general set of guidelines to get you started. The first guideline is that there is a HOOK, a BODY, and a CLOSE with a CALL-to-ACTION or ASK. The second is that you want to keep the commercial between 30 and 37 seconds.
The Hook is about seven seconds and it is the first thing that your audience will hear. It is the way that you will engage your audience by creating a single statement that your audience understands quickly and piques their interest.
The body of your commercial builds upon the base schema created in your HOOK and is about 16 seconds. The body lets the audience “off the hook” by telling them what you can do for them; how your services are different; or solidifies the understanding of the product or service.
The body has three simple guidelines:
You will pick only one offering or One Tell-n-Sell. In 30 seconds you cannot give a resume of services to your audience. You want to pick an offering and target market.
You will also leverage the “Rule of Threes”. The “Rule of Threes” means that you create three sentences with no more than three attributes associated with the one product or service discussed in the body.
Finally, you will ensure that the body discusses the results of using your offering. Remember, it is all about the customer. Your commercial will make sure they know what they will get when they use your products or services.
In a commercial closing you will finalize your message. In your closing your audience needs to know who you are, what you do, and how to contact you. You also want to tell your audience of potential customers what you want them to do. This is the CALL-TO-ACTION and should be about seven seconds.
The Call-To-Action is the way that you finalize information with your customer so that they know how to move forward and what you expect them to do next. Many professional commercials close with a call-to-action. Just take a look at the commercials on TV. They will ask viewers to do something and in return, get something.
Imagine that you are not in front of potential customers; however, you are in front of a networking group such as BNI® (Business Network International), which is a business networking and referral organization; however, they may not necessarily be your customer. In a case where you are not in front of your potential customer, but you are in front of business partners that can refer business to you, your closing should have an ASK at the end.
In actuality this is a TELL. You will tell the audience what type of business or business prospects you are looking for. In this case you want to be very specific and not get caught in the trap of listing every type of customer that you want to do business with.
Because organizations such as BNI generally meet on a regular basis, your goal is to educate your referral network to the type of business that you do and then tell them the type of customer that you are looking for. On a week by week basis, your definition will have a TELL that explains exactly what type of customer you are looking for and why.
These guidelines will get you well on your way to developing amazing 30 Second Pitches that take you straight into profits.
SEE ALSO:
Are you Nailing Your Pitch?
5 Ways to Retain Your Clients
About the Author
Dawnna St Louis, Professional Speaker, Speaking Coach, Messaging Consultant and Author, She is the creator of Sticky Mechanics, Speak Naked, and from PowerPoint to Powerful, puts her energies into writing books, coaching presenters and sales teams, and speaking on women’s empowerment and communications successes she’s observed and participated in at great companies. Her focus is on inspiring audiences find personal and professional success by leveraging the most powerful tool available to man, communications!
Dawnna’s newest book, Pitch to Profits, is a step by step how to guide that teaches readers how to turn a 30 second pitch into profits. At most network meetings attendees are asked to stand up and give a 30 Second Pitch. In 30 Seconds you are either getting business or losing it. There is NO IN BETWEEN!
Pitch to Profits turns you into a pitching pro and transforms your audience of window shoppers, business card collectors, and browsers into buyers.
Her next book, YOLO, will be launched in front of 500 women at the Women’s Success Summit on November 10th, 2011. .
Want to find out more. Reach out to Dawnna at www.DawnnaSpeaks.com.
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