Why should I do business with you? Someone walked across a crowded room and asked me this question. It can happen to you. You need a good response. After you have created an elevator pitch and become comfortable presenting it, condense it even further. You might come into contact with someone who may have heard hundreds of elevator pitches and wants something even more concise. If you recite an elevator pitch, he may stop listening before you finish. He may want 15 words. You have to be ready.
Somebody walked up to me one day and said, “In 15 words or less, why should I do business with you?” It happened to me. It can happen to you.
You need a good response. After you have created an elevator pitch and become comfortable presenting it, condense it even further. You might come into contact with someone who may have heard hundreds of elevator pitches and wants something even more concise. If you recite an elevator pitch, he may stop listening before you finish. He may want 15 words. You have to be ready. I responded with: “I can turn your problems into solutions. I’ve been doing this since 1992.” That was 13 words (five seconds). It met his criteria and helped establish a dialog. We ended up talking for another 10 minutes. When you have an answer, you look competent and invite new business. If you don’t have one, you may end up looking inexperienced to a prospect.
I am sharing a few more similar responses for your review. They’re all 15 words or fewer.
Embrace one of these or create one of your own. I have created a worksheet to help you answer the “Why should I do business with you?” question and posted it at www.cameronparkcomputer.com/escape/Why-should-I-do-business-with-you.doc. Write the date in the left column and your 15-word responses in the right column. Get ready for this question. You may need a 15-word response tomorrow.
In addition to face-to-face meetings, you will need this online. Online services such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter ask for a summary or headline. These are very short. You can take your 15 word response and use that as your Facebook and Twitter summary. You can use your 15 word response as your LinkedIn headline.
This will work to your benefit. When people search for the goods and services you offer and find your LinkedIn profile, they will see your name and your LinkedIn headline. If you employed a strong 15 word response and used that as your LinkedIn headline, you will get your headline in front of people who are looking for the goods and services you offer. At the end of the day, we’re all asking: “why should I do business with…” You should give yourself a comparative advantage and promote that as often as you can.
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