Does that question fill you with dread or excitement?
Is it easy for you to answer in 2-3 sentences with passion, enthusiasm and power?
And when you need to introduce yourself in front of a group, do you shy away, mumble a few things and finish as quickly as possible so that they can move on to the next person?
This morning I was at a networking event. 30 business women came together to share what they do and meet new people. The regular type of introduction exercise was started: we were asked to introduce ourselves and our business.
Here are the 3 things I noticed:
- Most women spoke about at least 3 things they do in their business
- The word “just” was used way too often… for example “I just run a business from home…” or “I’m just a nurse…”
- In many cases, the use of voice and body language was soft, quiet and hard to hear. One woman was sitting behind a pole so that half the audience couldn’t see who was speaking.
And then came my turn…
I got up… clapped my hands together and said,
“How are you going to remember me if I’m sitting in a large group and my intro is right in the middle? We know that the law of primacy and recency states that you’ll remember what you heard first and what you heard last so what happens to all the people in the middle?”
“I want you guys to remember me so I’m going to pose you with a challenge… Make sure that this event is extraordinary for you. Ask yourselves what you need to get out of this and who you need to speak to in order to make this extraordinary for you and then go and do just that.”
I proceeded explained what I do (in one sentence) – help people who are already successful become even more successful – and sat down.
The women woke up! They were smiling, laughing and asking me questions. One of them asked… you forgot to tell us your name… Oops! I’m guessing I was interesting enough that they wanted to know.
Entrepreneurs! we don’t always like to stand out, we don’t like to go out of our comfort zone and be different… but we want our business to stand out and be different. How is that going to happen if we don’t push ourselves?
It begins with our message and the way we say it. There were incredible businesses in that room and they were not done any justice with the intros they received. We are the face of our business.
Here are 3 tips to make your point with power:
- Choose one thing to focus on – one thing that you want people to remember about you and say that – just one thing!
- Work on your 2-3 sentence pitch and then practice, practice, practice. The more you say it, the more naturally it will come. Keep it simple and to the point. Get feedback.
- Stand up, speak with confidence, use a power pose that projects who you really are.
And next time you go to a networking meetup, practice your intro with every new person you meet. Play with the words until it lands with them and you know that your message was heard.
So… what do you do?
Make your point with power. Land your message.