Tell Me in Ten Seconds What Your Company Does – GO!
What If you were standing in front of someone who is the perfect prospect for your product or service. If you had ten seconds, what would you tell them that would make them say…tell me more.
How would you explain how you can change their life for the better, solve their pain or help them to succeed in no more than twenty words?
Ten seconds isn’t a lot of time but imagine if one thousand people wanted ten seconds of your time today. There are a lot of people and companies vying for your attention. A succinct message that everyone at your company tells is vital.
The power of that first engagement in person or online is critical to the health of your marketing efforts. If successful, it means you are empathizing with your customer and their needs, and you might have a solution to help them with their problem.
Ten Seconds, Go!
Think BENEFITS, not FEATURES. It is a vital part of most initial communication.
- Don’t tell me about your nutritional supplement powder; tell me about my future health and why happiness and wellness are possible. Show me a picture of me getting to spend time with my grandchildren.
- Instead of explaining how your software works, tell me how it will simplify my workday and eliminate hours of unproductive time. Show me a picture of being more productive instead of bogging me down in the details of how the software works.
- I’m not that interested in all the ingredients on your all-natural toothpaste, but when you explain how much happier and healthier, I’ll feel when I start my day, you get my attention. Show me a picture of getting off to a worry-free day.
Empathy & Listening
Have you done enough research, studied your customer’s challenges, and observed their pain to be able to offer them a simple, well-crafted phrase or question that gets them interested in talking with you?
Last year I spent months interviewing a client’s customers. After hours of stakeholder interviews, I came up with six words that summarized their benefit. My client was ecstatic because I was able to capture the essence of the value they create in a memorable phrase.
Six words – but they were precisely the right words to use to open doors, as a headline in ads, the top headline for their website and contact us forms and it is how their sales team opens up conversations with prospects.
It might take you days or months to reduce your message to ten seconds or twenty words. But that investment will provide you with a tool that will enhance your ability to succeed.
The secret is often asking a question. For example, I will say to new prospects who connect with me about marketing consulting services:
Can you afford to hire a high-six figure, full-time Chief Marketing Officer for your business with forty years of experience? How might it help you if you could hire me for a few hours each month?
Invest the time to develop that ten-second question that grabs your prospects’ attention.
The clock is ticking.
You can set up a time to chat with me about your marketing challenges using my calendar. Email me jeffslater@themarketingsage.com Call me. 919 720 0995. The conversation is free, and we can explore if working together makes sense. Watch a short video about working with me.
Photo by Hidde van Esch on Unsplash
