Your Unforgettable 60 Seconds

Make your sixty seconds count.

As a business person, you will have many opportunities to introduce people to your business with a sixty second presentation.  You may be at a networking event, in a referral meeting or at a Chamber luncheon. It’s a great time to create a solid connection.

A good sixty second presentation may be remembered for days, weeks, months and even years. An unforgettable tagline or story can make the difference between getting a referral and not getting a referral.

Inspire them with a story about a successful solution or happy client. People will remember the stories you tell long after they have forgotten everything else you said.

Sixty second presentations, when geared toward increasing your business with referrals, are NOT commercials for your business. Turn your 60 seconds into a friendly presentation.

A referral-specific sixty second presentation will:

• Introduce the speaker’s business in a memorable way.
• Give a concise description of the business and/or service, when not self-explanatory.
• Specifically identify what kind of client they have a solution for.
• Stimulate, motivate and educate with memorable stories.
• Will train the listener how to refer you. 

Here is an example of what to say when someone shakes your hand at an event and says, "So what do you do?"

 "I’m Suzie Smith with Virtual Office, your Assistance from a distance, offering office support for everything you need.

In fact, yesterday, a customer of mine called and said, “Suzie, I hated my desk! But since you've been doing my newsletter, email campaigns and balancing my checkbook, I’m spending more time in front of clients… where I should be.”

So that is what I do. I help business people who are slumped over their desk in frustration or overwhelmed with work. Please feel free to give them my card and ask if I can call them. Then, call, text or email me their information so I can contact them right away. I’m available to help."

In this example, Suzie used the story about an existing client to show what she does and how it solved a problem.

Then she helped us visualize what to look for; someone slumped over their desk in frustration. That’s was our cue. When we see that, we can approach them and give them Suzie’s card.

Here is another example.

David represented a non-profit hospice care organization. He struggled with the part of the meeting where he had to give a sixty second presentation. He never knew what to say and bumbled through it by listing the services that the hospice offered. He asked me to help. I suggested that he seek to lift the listener with inspirational stories.

The next week he told a short story during his 60 second presentation time in his networking group.

“I helped an end-of-life patient record all her family recipes.” He said.  “At her funeral, everyone received a copy and the family expressed that working on that book filled her last months with happiness and joy.”

It was an unusual presentation, but I’ll never forget it, nor will I ever forget what a wonderful thing he did for that patient. In my mind, I decided that David was an alright kind of guy.

After that, David continued to tell us stories about inspiring patient experiences and those stories brought him referrals.

Practice telling a thirty second story where your business, service or product is the star.

Then, request the referral by saying:

"When you see                   (situation/problem/condition), please give them my card and ask if I may call them because my                     can solve this problem."

or

“The next time you hear                            . Ask if we can call them to set up a consultation.”