2010 Annetta Wilson All Rights Reserved

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1 Annetta Wilson: Welcome everyone to class 1 of "How to Give the Perfect Elevator Speech" or "How to Talk So You Can Get Paid for Your Expertise and Get People to Do What You Want" otherwise known as "You've Got Less than 15 Seconds. Impress me!" My name is Annetta Wilson, and I will be your facilitator for these four calls. At the end of which, you ll have not one, but several so-called elevator speeches or elevator pitches so that in any given situation, you can assess it quickly and never be at a loss when someone asks, "Hi, what do you do?" That is a question we're asked a lot. And no matter how good we are at what we do, sometimes that one little question can stump us. It's that one little question that forms the beginning of any beneficial relationship, either personally or professionally. Everything we do starts with Hello. Every relationship we have starts with hello, and it's from that beginning, that we build businesses and relationships. That's why knowing how to answer the question, "What do you do? can be extremely important, one of the most important conversations you'll have as you're building a business relationship. Let's talk a little bit about why I do what I do. I spent over 30 years in television news. I made my living as a professional communicator, often having very little time to get across a great deal of information. When you're under that kind of pressure, you learn to get to the point very quickly, and hopefully do it in a way so your words will capture someone's interest. In applying those rules of the news game, it became fairly simple to come up with ways to figure out what people would tune in to. And very often, those were things that you might not expect. Number one: everyone's first and foremost and favorite topic of discussion is themselves. So, having spent that time as a journalist, I learned very quickly the easiest way to have a great conversation is to get someone talking about themselves. You end up saying very little, but you end up learning a great deal. People are often interested in how you can help them solve a problem. That is another big clue as to what should be in your elevator speech. So, what we're going to cover in these four calls are how Page 1 of 24

2 you can come up with an elevator speech very quickly; how to assess how you should talk to someone based on how that person is showing up there are clues they will give you, how to silence your inner critic who wants to convince you that people might not want to hear what you have to say. We'll be going over all of that, and some very ingenious ways of coming up with your own elevator speech. One of the things that I want you to do, first and foremost, is to identify who you are, what you have to offer, and why people need you. Even if you're in a room full of people who all do the same thing you do, there is something about the way you do it that is unique, special, unusual, or just downright odd. And sometimes, the oddest things can be the things that people find the most memorable. One of the exercises that I'd like you to do is to write down 10 things that make you unique, special, or different. Even if you're in a room full of people, all of whom do what you do, there is something that you do, there is a way that you do it that nobody else does. When someone is asking you about your expertise, what they're really looking for is what's different, what's unique, what's going to benefit me the most, quickly? Because people are prone to pay attention to things that help them solve problems first. So, the elevator speech is a way of making you a walking CliffsNotes version of your business or your organization. Basically, CliffsNotes were the short cut way of reading a book when you were in school. If you couldn't read the whole book, the CliffsNotes would give you the general idea. One of the ways or one of several ways that you can come up with your answer to, What do you do? are writing exercises and role playing. If you were in the other person's shoes, what would they want to know about you and what you do? There are a few questions you can ask yourself to kind of get the ball rolling in that direction. These are designed to help you come up with problem-solving ideas and be creative doing it, and a way to help clarify the problem that your potential client or even your current clients have. Page 2 of 24

3 Some of the things that I'd like you to think about are: What are the problem s major weaknesses? In other words, if you know that you solve a particular problem for someone, what are the weaknesses in that problem? What are the most vulnerable areas in the problem itself? Those are the things that you should look at tackling first. Also, what would it be like for your client if the problem were solved? This gets you into a little bit of a visioning exercise, a little bit of projecting the happily ever after, if you will, once the client hires you or once the person knows that you are the answer to their problem. What other problems might be related to their initial problem? In other words, how do their problems intertwine? See if you can find a connecting thread to what might be going on with that person. That will lead you into deeper, and often, very juicy territory to help you get to problems that might not bubble up at the beginning. What assumptions might you be making about the problem your potential client has? Very often, we get into a mode of judging someone's particular difficulty or making assumptions. We've all heard the saying that assumptions can be very dangerous. They really are. Where does the problem fit into the larger scheme of things? If you have an idea about what that person does, let's say, you're at a conference that s tailored to your industry, and all of you are pretty much doing the same thing. How does one person's problem fit into the larger scheme of that particular industry or that person's expertise? There are layers and layers and layers to problems. What is often showing up on the surface might not be the juiciest stuff. So, I want you to think a little bit deeper and try to withhold all judgment about what might be going on with your client. Ask yourself, What's good about this person's problem? That might sound like a very odd question, but in that question are the seeds to the solution. If someone has a problem, often the way to solve it is to dissect the problem itself. The seeds to the answers may be hidden in the problem. Page 3 of 24

4 Then ask yourself What if? What if I could solve this person's problem right away? What are the opportunities that might present themselves? What if the person has another connection or another contact who also has that problem? How can I help them both? So, playing the "What if?" game can make you think outside the box. If you take your area of expertise and apply some of the questions, or all of the questions that I just listed, you'll find you're able to dig a little bit deeper. So, (list)10 things that make your organization special, make you special, make your gift, skills, and abilities different and far above anyone else's. Once you come up with those 10, see if you can narrow it down to the top three. Let's say you only had three things that you could tell someone about why you are the only choice or the only option or the only remedy to their pain. What would those three things be? And then, let's dig a little bit deeper and come up with a sentence to describe each of those three things. If you were writing down your area of expertise and you narrowed it to your top three and you had to write a sentence for each of those, what would you write? If that's the only thing someone could go by for how good you are (or why they should hire you) and all they had was a piece of paper, what would you write on that piece of paper that would make them stop and say, "Okay, I don't need to look any further. This is the person. This is the business. This is the organization. This is the expert that I need." So, what I'm asking you to do is to take your expertise and dissect it, almost as if you were solving an ancient puzzle or a riddle. Get THAT descriptive and go into THAT much detail about what you do. And after you have three sentences for each of those things, now look at your three, and see if you can come up with one killer sentence that kind of summarizes it all. The purpose of doing that is to, again, help you clarify and to identify your distinct advantage. Some of the things that help you come up with your distinct advantage? Think about what your clients praise Page 4 of 24

5 most about you. What do you hear from the people who are your raving fans? How do employees, friends, vendors, even your relatives, describe what you do? So the first part of this class is for you to take a look at yourself as though you're observing who you are and what you're about from a by-stander's point of view. What can you do that your competition can't? What's the major problem that YOUR organization solves? And if someone you respected, let's say your mother, or a close friend, were buying a service or product that you provide, what would that person look for? Even if there are people who do exactly what you do, what do they fail to do? What do they fail to promote? What do they overlook that you pay close attention to? Think about those things for a minute. If you had to write them down right now, what comes to mind? And then the major question: Why should someone buy from you? Why should someone use your service? All of this leads to what we call "persuasive communication." And the main questions in persuasive communication are, and you've heard this before, WIIFM, "What's in it for me?" That is the only radio station that we all tune in to. A person who asks you, "What do you do?" is looking for solutions. They're looking for remedies. So, answer the question from the vantage point of the person who asked the question, not from your experience or your expertise. One of the other questions in a persuasive conversation is, "So?" You know we're used to that when kids do it. "So? gets right to the bottom line. It's like, "So what? Now I know what you do, what does that mean to me? Why should I care?" The third question in a persuasive conversation is, "What am I supposed to do about it?" And this comes in answer to the question, or speaks to the action that you want the person to take after they've listened to you. So, in a persuasive conversation question number one, "What's in it for me?" Question number two is, "So?", and question number three is, "What am I supposed to do about it?" Page 5 of 24

6 You can see (that) all of those questions come from a selfish perspective from the person who ASKED you the question. And yes, that's very true, because human beings do nothing on any level unless it benefits us in some particular way. That's the only reason we take action: there is something we're going to get out of it. So you have to decide the purpose of the interaction that you're having with someone. Do you just want to inform them? In other words, are you a new business? Or, are you in a new area and someone doesn't know about your organization? Do you want to educate them? Do you want to give the kind of answer where you give some substantive information they can walk away with and act on? Are you trying to entertain them? Do you want to inspire them? Are you trying to convince them of something? Or, are you issuing a call-to-action? I know it may be surprising that all of that can be wrapped up in a simple question like, "What do you do?" But, when you think about it, when you think about the fact that-that question is the one that's going to set the ground work for any relationship you have with that person, be it business or personal moving forward, there s a lot that goes into that. Now, what are some of the things that might stop us from even venturing to answer that question in some unique and different ways? Public enemy number one is fear. That little monster between your ears that says, "They won't want to listen to what I have to say. They already know someone who does that. They don't really care." All of those things may stop you cold, and you don't want that to happen. Whenever that monster between your ears rears its ugly head, instead of pretending that it is not there, I want you to acknowledge it. In fact, thank it for showing up, because in a very real sense, it can make you even more diligent. It can help you pay even closer attention to things that you might overlook. It may even stop you from making some assumptions about what someone wants to hear. What I don't want you to do is accept that little voice as being absolutely true, because it's not. It's only a thought that popped into your head for the briefest moment of time. Some of the questions that I get most often about this particular topic are "What if they don't like what I have to say?" "What if I'm nervous?" "What if I can't explain it in a way that they get what I do?" "I feel like I'm Page 6 of 24

7 selling." "I don't feel authentic when I'm telling someone what I do." "I use vague terms." All of those things can be remedied and all of those things can be false. The trouble we get into when we listen to the little voice in our heads is that we believe it. And the one thing I don't want you to do is believe that voice! Question it. Acknowledge that it's there. Find it interesting. But you don't have to believe it. Find a way to use that fear and turn it into fuel! To recap where we are right now: we're going to look at who you are, what you're about and your expertise, and list 10 things that make you different, unique, and special. Then you're going to narrow this 10 to your top three. You're going to write one sentence for each of those three things. And then you're going to take those three sentences and put them in one killer sentence that summarizes everything that you are and everything you're about. During the course of these calls, we're going to go over some unique and different ways to help you answer those questions. One of the easiest ways to answer "What do you do?" is to ask someone a question. In other words, your elevator speech can be a question. It doesn't always have to be a statement. It can be something like, "Have you ever noticed how people do X? Or, Has there ever been a time when you wished you could do X?, Have you ever been in a situation where you wished you had a solution to X? So, start asking yourself questions about your area of expertise. And, understand (that) within every question is the seed for an entirely new elevator speech. That's the quick and dirty, very easy way of coming up with a way of discussing what you're about, when you don't have a clue of how to get into that conversation. So, persuasive conversation includes three questions. They are "What's in it for me?", "So what?", "What am I supposed to do about it?" Decide the purpose of the interaction. You might not always be looking for a client. Sometimes, you just want someone to know about a new product you came up with. Sometimes, you might be looking for strategic partners for a new enterprise that you're getting into. It's not necessary all the time to be looking for clients or fishing for a new business just to have an elevator speech. Sometimes, it can be fun just to test a few different ones when you're at a networking event just to see what people respond to. One of the things we're going to cover in this four-call teleseminar is how to assess what to say to someone by observing their behavior. We're going to get into that information in future calls. But, you will never ever be at a loss for words or never ever wonder whether what you're saying will hit the mark. Page 7 of 24

8 One of the reasons that a lot of people shy away from even working on a new way to talk about what they do is because everyone else has always done it the way we do it. That can be one of the most dangerous things of all. Do not fall back into old habits. Old habits can kill business and get you in trouble quicker than anything else. Not being able to clearly articulate what you do can cost (you) a relationship. It can cost you advancing in your career. It can make you feel isolated. It can make clients go away and ultimately, cost you money. One of the things I want you to think about is, what have people said to you that has helped you take your business in a new direction, positive or not? I don't like saying negative, because we can learn from everything we hear. We can learn from everything someone says. So, what is it that you hear most often that helps you determine number one, a new direction to go with your business, or number two, something that perhaps you need to cross off the list in terms of what you're offering? What you hear from previous clients, from people you work around every day, even friends, can be the seed of even more elevator speeches. I want you to become hyper-vigilant about what you see and what you hear from people when it comes to your business. How do they describe you? Do they describe you as a maverick? Do they describe you as a magician? Do they describe you as the go-to person in your industry? When you hear things like that, stop and ask them, "What makes you say that? What did I do that gave you that impression? Elaborate on that for me." Asking a question can be a way of coming up with an elevator speech, but also asking people who are your raving fans, what it is about you that made them happy they worked with you, or would make them happy to refer you to someone else. Take those answers and do the exact process we did before. Come up with a list of 10, then, narrow that to your top three. Write a sentence for each one and then come up with one killer sentence. Another very easy and quick way to deliver an elevator speech when you don't have a lot of time, short of asking a question, because that's quick way number one; is quick way number two: Repeating what someone else has said about you. That's what we commonly call a testimonial. If someone says, You re the answer to all my financial problems. Because of your advice, I was able to do X, Y, and Z." Then if someone asks you, "What do you do?" (You can say) Well, my last client said I saved them X amount of dollars. Or My most recent client said I gave them back 10 hours of their Page 8 of 24

9 day. Or, My client said because of the work we did together they got 10 new clients in a space of a week. So, use testimonials, use what other people say about you as a way of getting into that elevator speech. Believe me, if you're talking to someone and you're telling them what your clients have said, the assumption on their part is going to be, "If he or she did this for one person, then they can do it for me." Because we all look for opportunities to identify with people. People revere experts, but they want to connect with people who are just like them, or people who can do things for people who are just like them. So, easy way number one (is to) ask a question: Have you ever been in a situation? Do you remember a time when you had this (problem)? And then describe it. Easy way number two is to actually repeat back what one of your clients, or one of your raving fans, has said about you TO you. So if you haven't already, get in the habit of asking for results-based testimonials from people who have hired you to work for them. Let's say you're in a situation where you're starting a new business, and you don't exactly have testimonials yet. Ask someone who knows what you do, (a) family member (or) friend, If I helped you solve this problem, what would it mean for you? If you hired me tomorrow, and you could take advantage of what I offer, and I could solve all of your problems, what would that mean for you? And then write down what they say. And I don't mean things like, "Oh, working with her was so nice," or "He's a great guy." That doesn't tell the person who's asking (the answer to) one of those persuasive questions, which is "What's in it for me?" "So?" or "What am I supposed to do about it?" It doesn't answer those questions. You want them to say what you actually did or what it would be like if you actually solved that problem. I want you to always be thinking ahead of yourself. What do you want to hear after you've done something for someone? (That s a) very different way of coming up with your elevator speech. So, number one: ask a question; number two: use testimonials. Another sneaky way is asking them what they do. Say, "Well, what s your biggest problem in your business right now? Tell me what that is and I can tell you how what I do can help you solve it." Now they're doing the talking. And the minute someone starts talking to you about their problem, you can start assessing how what you do solves that problem. Number one, they're going to remember Page 9 of 24

10 you, because very few people when asked, "What do you do?" turn it around and ask the person what s the major problem they're having right now in their business or their industry. Or, what are the challenges they're facing in the future? What are the things they're hearing about that are problematic for people who do the same thing that they do? All of those questions are designed to get the other person talking. Then you can say, "That's interesting. I worked with a client who had those exact issues. And after working with me, they were able to put into place X, Y, and Z." Or "After working with me, they were able to solve X, Y, and Z." Not once in any of the examples that I just used have we talked about your title or the name of your company. Now, why would you do that? Very simple: until people know you can solve their problem, they really don't care about all that other stuff and they don't have a reason to remember it. Better that they ask you your name, and the name of the company or your business AFTER they know they're interested in working with you, than before, when they might have to ask you again, "Ah, what did you say your name was?" Because your name (is unimportant) unless you have a one-word name that is known the world over. And if you're that famous you really don't need an elevator speech. All you need to do is walk in the room. Unless you are THAT well-known, your name really doesn't matter until they know you can solve their problem. So number one: ask a question. Number two: talk about what you have done for your other clients or what your clients say you have done for them, and/or number three: ask someone you know "What do you find to be the biggest challenges within your industry right now? Perhaps, if you tell me what those are, I can tell you how what I do relates to that." Now, you've got them thinking. It's also a two-fold sneaky kind of question, because what you're also doing is you're asking them to think about problems they're having. When they come up with the problem, it's going to be easy for you to step in and say what your solution is. And not one of those things have to do with, "My name is..."; "I work for..."'; "We've been in business for X number of years, and We manufacture this..." How boring! Page 10 of 24

11 If you can get me talking about what ails me and then tell me how you ve got the solution, I'm practically going to sell myself on what you have to offer. So: persuasive conversation, testimonials, asking a question, and getting a person you're talking to-to start listing the problems they re encountering, are some of the easiest ways to make sure that your elevator speech hits the mark every single time. You're going to have to do a little investigative work ahead of time. You're going have to do a little homework ahead of time, especially if you are at a business function, a networking event, an association meeting, a mastermind group, anywhere you have been issued an invitation by a person or an organization. It's a wonderful opportunity for you to do a little detective work, or in my former world, do a little digging before you put the facts together, to find out who else might be there. What might prompt them to show up? What issues might they be dealing with to even get in the car and drive to that organization s function? What are they looking for? Are the people there looking for new clients? Are they looking for joint venture partners? Are they there because they are experts in that particular field, especially if it is related to a conference of some kind? Even if you are in the room full of people (and) all of them do what you do, there are still opportunities for you to answer that question differently. Because in a situation like that, you might not be asked, "What do you do?" especially if everyone in the room does exactly what you do. Interesting questions to start out with may be, How are you handling the problem of X? What challenges are you facing in your part of the country that might be different? Because you may have to be the one that asks, "What do you do?" first. By the way, I never want you to ask that question because it's boring! So, some of the questions that I'm giving you right now are some alternatives to asking someone, "What do you do?" You can ask someone, "How do you handle the problem of X? What is the latest project you're working on related to X?". (This works) especially if you're in an industry that you're familiar with and you know everyone there is pretty much going to be dealing with the same problem. Page 11 of 24

12 Just to recap what we've talked about tonight: the purpose of your elevator speech, other than letting someone know that you are a problem-solver, is to make you a walking CliffsNotes version of your organization or your business. And, it's to narrow the focus in a conversation and to let people know just how brilliant you are without actually saying so. So, you're going to ask them a question. You're going to talk about what you've done for someone else, and then you're going to ask them what problems or challenges they're having. Once they do that, you tell them how what you do relates to those problems or challenges. With what we've talked about during this call, you should have at least one new method for coming up with a different elevator speech or answer to the question, "What do you do?" than you did before the call. A lot of the things that we've gone over you may have heard before. Or for some of you, they may be totally new. It's my hope that if you have heard them before, that you're hearing about them in a way that you can now morph or massage them into something totally different. One of the questions that might help you be a bit more creative and think of yourself more as problem solver is, What are the problems major weaknesses?" If you know what problem you solve already, what are the major weaknesses in that problem? In other words, what would you tackle first for someone who's having a particular problem? What will it be like for them if the problem is solved? So, What's the happily ever after? How are the problems related to one another? Because usually, if you've got one problem, they're like weeds, you've got more than one, and they crop up in different places. So how are the problems related? Then you can come in and talk about how you not only solve one problem, but you're able to solve the other problems that crop up around it. Where does the problem fit into the larger scheme of things? If there is something that is germane to an entire industry, how does that fit into that industry? And how can you help the person you're talking to come up with something unique, something different, something that may establish THEM as a leader? What are the assumptions that you're making about the problem? Which may seem like a very odd question, but often, we make assumptions that could be a little off base. So, I am all about asking more questions than making assumptions. Try to withhold judgment. These are some hints that help Page 12 of 24

13 you think more creatively. Withhold judgment. Ask yourself, What's good about this problem? Which may seem odd when there's something amiss, but within every problem is the key to solving it. The problem itself may be a good thing because it may lead to a more efficient way of doing things. It may lead to more money. It may lead to better teamwork. It may uncover some pitfalls that people didn't know were there. So, what's good about the problem? And always ask, "What if?, because that forces your brain to come up with new and better and different (solutions). Ask yourself, "In what ways might I do X? In what ways might I raise funds for this organization?" if you're a fund raiser. "In what ways might I find new systems for my client to implement?" if that is your particular area of expertise. Start your own personal query with, "In what ways might I..." In all of those things will be the seed to new and better and different ways to answer the question, "What do you do?" Now, at this point, I want you to take every answer you've given to "What do you do? in the past and completely throw it out, because we're going to start over. Because you cannot solve a problem with the same mind that created it. And the reason you're listening to this is to come up with a new way of talking about what you do so that you can go out and help more people. Because ultimately, that's what we're all here for to help people. Again, every relationship starts with hello and the few priceless words that come after hello. If you can't get that conversation started, you can't help people solve problems. So, from this point forward, I want you to think about yourself as a problem solver. I want you to think about (yourself as) someone who helps people get rid of their struggles. I want you think about yourself as someone who helps people get rid of the pain that their problem that is costing them. I want you to think of (yourself as) someone who has the answer for people who have tried everything, and you are their last hope. If you start thinking about yourself that way, you will start coming up with new and different and better ways to solve not only their problems, but to answer the first question, "What do you do?" Page 13 of 24

14 In future calls, we're going to talk about how to identify people s behavioral styles so you'll know exactly what to say and to whom. Because all styles of communication do not work with everyone. People respond to very different things. We'll be getting into how to talk to people using different communication languages. And those are things like auditory language, visual language, kinesthetic language, and auditory- digital. Auditory people respond to phrases like "Let me tell you" or "Listen up" or "I want you to hear what I'm saying". Visual people respond to being painted a picture of what things look like. Kinesthetic people respond to the feeling that accompanies something. And auditory-digital people respond to facts, figures, and data. And, there's a way to talk about what you do that works for each of these particular communication languages. The fun part is figuring out ways to incorporate almost all of them in one answer! In future calls, we'll be talking about how to craft your elevator speech to speak in the different communication languages auditory, visual, kinesthetic, and auditory-digital. We're also going to talk about how to identify behavioral styles so you'll know what to say to someone based on what you can observe. The beauty of this is (that) you don't have to know anything about them to know how to talk to them. All you have to do is watch them for a few minutes. And that can be a lot of fun. Besides, you'll never be bored in a mall or in airport again (after) learning that! Those are some of the things that will be coming up in future calls, along with helping you craft your elevator speech using the four P s. We talked about that in some of the preview calls. The four P s are the problem, the promise, the picture, and the pitch. We'll be getting into all of those in future calls. I'm going to open up the line so if anyone has any questions, we can get to those answers. Okay. Hello, everyone. Page 14 of 24

15 Annetta Wilson: I know I gave you a lot of information here; going over a lot of things, but my goal for tonight was for you to walk away with at least one new way of coming up with a different way of answering the question, "What do you do?" I'm going to go around the room and check and see if that was accomplished for you. Taylor, did you come up with at least one new way to talk about your expertise based on what you heard tonight? Taylor: Yes, I did. Annetta Wilson: Okay. Taylor: Actually, I'm (inaudible) exactly down, but, yes, I mean, I made notes and I'll have to really think about it. But, yes, I mean, the three ways that you gave us were very, very good. Annetta Wilson: Okay. And, Marty, did you come up with at least one new way? Marty: Yes, easy way number three was new to me. Annetta Wilson: What else do you know about the problem? Marty: I used yeah, I used the one where you start off (with) what you know, and then I launched into something, but I even with that style, it seems to me from my view that they really weren't interested in what my answer was. Annetta Wilson: Right. And now you kind of know why. Page 15 of 24

16 Marty: And so I need to I need to craft that a little. I mean, that's the reason I'm on this call is to find out why the answers that I give, even to this little, you know, even using easy way number one, just seems sort of boring to the audience. Annetta Wilson: Okay. And, you know you're not done. We've got three more calls and I want all of you to me with questions that come up, because my goal is to make sure that you get all of your questions answered during this teleseminar. I want you to get the full value here and to be able to talk about what you do differently. Let me check-in with Craig. Craig, did you come up with at least one new way or one new method for talking about your expertise or your business? Craig: I did. I like the idea of mining your client for what their problems were and then addressing that. That is something I hadn't tried before, but it will work very, very well. Annetta Wilson: Yeah, that was an old trick that I learned as a reporter. You get them talking and then you don't have to do a lot of talking. Craig: Right. Annetta Wilson: And you know exactly what to do, or not. Craig: Right, that was very good. Annetta Wilson: Okay. And, Janine? Page 16 of 24

17 Janine: It was excellent. Thank you for sharing. And yes, I like the idea of turning it around and let them talk about their problems and then I can just talk about my business. So I thought that was great. Thanks. Annetta Wilson: You're welcome. I want to find out from each of you if you wrote down any questions that I can answer that I didn't cover during the time that I was talking. Or, are there any things that I can clear up? Janine: The only thing as I was thinking, and I actually was driving during this part of the call, so I couldn't really write anything down. Annetta Wilson: Well, that's okay because you're you will get the links to listen to the recording. Janine: Yeah, the only thing as I was thinking at the time is, I would like to have an example of maybe some things that you've used with people before, because I learn really well by examples. Annetta Wilson: Then why don't I use my business as an example. Because, as you can imagine, I have more than one elevator speech. Sometimes, when I don't have a lot of time, and I just want people to be curious and maybe chuckle a bit when they ask, "What do you do?" I will answer by saying, "Well, I help people keep their foot out of their mouth." Janine: (laughter) Yeah, I love that. I saw that on your Web site. I have to say it's great. Annetta Wilson: Yeah, and that gets people do exactly what you just did, they'll start laughing or they'll say things like, "Where have you been all my life?" or "Can I have my husband or wife call you?" or "How do you do that?" And see, that's the kind of response that you want to get back. You want people to be curious enough about what you say that they want to keep talking to you. Because the Page 17 of 24

18 longer that they're talking to you, the more interested they are. And now, you're building a relationship. So when I don't have a lot of time, I'll say, "I help people keep their foot out of their mouth." Now, using the "Can you imagine?" or "Do you know how?" example that I gave all of you, I may also on occasion say, "Do you know how it feels sometimes when you're standing in front of a group of people and you're supposed to say something and your mind just went blank, and the beads of sweat are popping out, and your throat is closing up, and there's a knot in your stomach, and if there was a hole in the floor, you'd gladly jump into it? Well, I help my clients never, ever feel that way again. That's when I really paint the picture of that problem. So could you kind of feel what that felt like to be in that situation? Janine: Oh, yeah. Annetta Wilson: Most people have been in that situation, especially if you're a business owner and you've ever had to get up and talk or explain what you do. We all, even from school, could remember a time when we wanted to be anywhere except in front of a room full of people. But, that's one of the things that as a business owner or someone who has a product or service, that's one of the necessary evils, if you will, of doing business. So that one, I will use a lot. And to use the example, the last example that I gave you, asking them about a problem and then showing how what you do works to solve it, I'll say, "Do you have people in your company who have to make presentations and even YOU cringe when you listen to them, although you know they're really good? And you're just counting the dollars that are flying out the window because these people can't talk their way out of a paper bag?" And usually, they'll go, "Oh, my goodness, yes." Then I d say, "Well, some of my clients used to have those issues, and now they're killing their competition because their people are now major-focused on how they present their expertise." Page 18 of 24

19 So, does that help? Does that help you guys see how I take working with people on communication and talk about it in a different way using the examples that we talked about tonight? Janine: Oh, absolutely. That is so helpful. I find that as helpful as the other information you gave. Annetta Wilson: Great! And at the end, when we do all of these calls, I will always open it up for Q- and-a because I want to make sure that the information that I give really lands with you. Janine: Yeah, the other thing that would be helpful, too, is to present a good way to do it and then a bad way to do it. Annetta Wilson: Well, a bad way to do it would be to give your name and the name of your company, how many years you've been in business, and how many clients you have. Janine: Right. Annetta Wilson: That is the ultimate worst way to talk about what you do. Some other ways that are really bad, or let's say less effective than other ways, are to use vague concepts: We help people turn what did I hear once? We help people turn chaos into clarity by implementing systems that help them operate fully. I have no idea what that means. Does anybody on the phone know what that means? Craig: Not me. Annetta Wilson: Okay. Can anybody tell me what industry that relates to? (Dog barks in background) Even the dog can't figure it out, you know (laughter). Page 19 of 24

20 Janine: As I think about it, maybe five minutes from now I might be able to tell you, but, yeah, I think. Annetta Wilson: Then call me back because I still don't know and I heard someone do that once (laughter). But we do that because we think we're sounding professional, and all we're doing is helping people's eyes glaze over. There's nothing professional about leaving someone more confused AFTER you talk to them than they were BEFORE you talked to them. And I think I mentioned this in the preview call: when you are talking to someone, simple and elegant is always best. Pretend that your client or your potential client knows absolutely zero about what you do, and then you won't make assumptive statements. Craig: I like your suggestion to speak as though they were what? Seventh... Annetta Wilson: Seventh graders. Craig: Seventh graders, yeah. Annetta Wilson: Yes, and seventh graders, by and large, are 12 years old. So, if you have children in your life (or borrow some from your neighbors) try to explain to them what you do and see if they get it. They would be great (and a) whole lot of fun for you. See if you can find a middle school student and explain to that child what you do and have them explain back to you what you just said. Believe me, children are very candid. They'll go, "I don't have a clue what you're talking about." Marty: Could you this is Marty. Could you give a quick example of your point about what if you have a solution for something, what are the what's the solution that you've mentioned, what are its major weaknesses? What's an example of that kind of problem? Page 20 of 24

21 Annetta Wilson: When I said, What's the problem's major weakness? Marty: Yeah. Annetta Wilson: Sometimes, it can be as simple as let's say, someone has difficulty well, let's take the topic at hand. Someone has a problem explaining what they do. What are the weaknesses in that? (They are) not communicating clearly, being vague, coming across as being incompetent, coming across as being unclear. So, all I'm doing is peeling away layers of the problem. Marty: Oh, the negative the negative consequence of not being able to solve that problem. Annetta Wilson: Exactly. Marty: Okay, Thank you. Annetta Wilson: That's another way of saying it. Yeah, what are the consequences? You know, once the problem rears its ugly head? What other little problems does it give birth to? Janine: So if you don't get your problem solved, this is what it s costing you. What is it costing you, right? Annetta Wilson: Yes, yes, because problems... Marty: And what was the context for that, Annetta? Where did you use that? Page 21 of 24

22 Annetta Wilson: That's when you can start questioning yourself. That whole exercise is to get your left brain flowing. It's an exercise in creativity and problem solving. In other words, you're putting yourself in the place of the person who's asking the question. And this person is intimately familiar with their own problem. So what else underneath that problem might be bothering them? Marty: Oh, okay. Annetta Wilson: It's a method that Socrates used beautifully: question, question, question, always question. And to Socrates, the question was far more important than the answer. And with enough questioning, the answer often just, poof, appears! So I want you to take that same approach when you start thinking about ways of talking about what you do. Marty: In the context of your questioner's problem? Annetta Wilson: Of the person who's asking you the question. Marty: Got it. Annetta Wilson: Yes. We're always coming from the other person's vantage point. It is never about us. It's always about them. And when you start out from their perspective, you're going to automatically broaden what you normally say and how you normally say it, because you're not going to assume they have a clue what you do. Does that make sense everybody? Janine: Uh-huh. Marty: Certainly. Page 22 of 24

23 Annetta Wilson: Because once you start assuming people know what you do, you're going to leave some information out. And the information you leave out is usually the information that's the most vital to them. So, always come from the audience s or the questioner's perspective. That's why I want each of you, before our next call, to completely scrap how you've been answering the question, "What do you do?" Take some of the things we've talked about tonight and start implementing them, if, for nothing else, just to see what works best for you. Okay? Janine: So Annetta, I can see with this lesson that we're talking about, you know, what are the consequences in dealing and solving the problems? You could actually even throw out possible things that they re encountering, that they maybe not think about. If they've okay, they have this problem as, "Okay, have you ever missed work because you have this problem? And then maybe give them ideas, throw some things out, possible things that this could cost them or... Annetta Wilson: Right, because they might not be able to, in a casual conversation, think of all the ramifications of the problem that they talk about. Janine: Right. Annetta Wilson: There may be problems that pop up underneath the one that's rearing its ugly head. But if you show that you've already thought about that, how much more valuable will you be? Because you're already a step ahead of them. Janine: Right. Yeah, that's what I can see. I can see that out of the three ways, the best way would be to start with number three, you know, "What keeps you up late at night?" or "What are your biggest challenges, blah, blah, blah, blah?" And then you could when they tell you, you'd be going to the testimonials and then, "Do you know how?" or "Have you ever been?" and you could cover all three. Just in that one end, I think number three is the most important one out of all of them. Page 23 of 24

24 Annetta Wilson: Well, it depends on which one you're comfortable with. That's why I always want you to have more than one option. I don't want you to rely on one way all the time, because you may be in situations where you don't have time to go into a long dissertation. Janine: Right. Annetta Wilson: Or you may not have the opportunity to ask a question. So, you always need to have more than one tool in your toolkit. Well, everyone, I thank you for taking the time to be with me tonight. And you will all get, via , the link to listen to this recording as many times as you choose. If during the ensuing week, if you have any questions, please feel free to them to me. You can them to me at info@yourcoachforsuccess.com, and I will make sure that those are the things that we address on our three remaining calls. Craig: Okay. Annetta Wilson: All right. Thank you very much and have a great evening, everyone. Page 24 of 24