The Articulate CEO

Now You're Talking, Manager

In the following article by BRW's Leo D'Angelis Fisher I, along with Jon-Michail and the Chief Executive of the Australian Institute of Management Susan Heron, discuss the problems plaguing executive communication in Australia.

 

 

The Golden Rules of the 'Elevator Pitch'

Elevator pitches remain as critical as they have ever been - perhaps even more so given the increasingly short attention span we all seem to have. Here then is some good advice on how to create your own elevator pitch from Toby Marshall at Lead Creation.

1. A great ‘Elevator’ provides just enough information to hook the listener in and spark a conversation. It is just the beginning, not the close; think lead generation not sales.

2. It should be short—10 to 20 seconds. Our attention spans have become shorter due to fast-paced city living and Social Media.

3. Practice it by speaking out loud and standing up—never just write it and read it to yourself. Say it again and again in front of a mirror; then with colleagues or friends. Say it 20 times and you’ll then know it enough to improvise and vary it so it comes alive and doesn’t sound stale.

4. An ‘Elevator’ is not just for sales people or business owners. It’s also for people who have jobs and want better ones—that’s most of the population!

5. A great rule of thumb is to only use your ‘Elevator’ when asked the question. If you walk up to someone and start talking about yourself it’s usually a big turn off; most people would say something like “so tell me about you.”

6. Sell yourself, not your product or business. The other person needs to be interested in you before they will buy anything from you. The old adage that ‘People buy from people they like’ still rings true for B2B marketing

7. Elevators are never about closing a sale, despite the name ‘pitching’. In this Social Networking age, blatantly selling is less and less acceptable. Even at Chamber of Commerce meetings—a pure business setting—I run a mile from people who are all about themselves. Life’s too short!

8. It’s NOT your cold calling script (if you are still foolish enough to be doing cold and not ‘very warm’ calling!)

9. Use pauses to emphasize; it is not a race to get the words out. Vary your tone as speaking in a monotone bores people—it’s very common though, possibly because they themselves know the words are boring!

10. If you are in a business setting, think about how you can help the prospect achieve their goals. That may be the breakthrough you are looking for with your lead generation—thinking about the implications for them?

Note that there is nothing in the above about providing a case study. In my experience they will ask me if they are interested, once they have heard my ‘Elevator’. Also, including studies that are meaningful makes it too long, and you are likely to see their eyes start to glaze over! Just have a couple ready to go in case they ask, though.

The above rules will help you see much better results with your lead generation in all types of social and business settings; learning to change the pitch depending on who you are speaking to, and where you are speaking to them, is a huge advantage to you and your business.

Article on The Punch: The Stupid People: They Are Legion And Dangerous

"These are Cipolla’s laws of stupidity:

1. Always and inevitably each of us underestimates the number of stupid individuals in circulation.

2. The probability that a given person is stupid is independent of any other characteristic possessed by that person.

3. A person is stupid if they cause damage to another person or group of people without experiencing personal gain, or even worse causing damage to themselves in the process.

4. Non-stupid people always underestimate the harmful potential of stupid people; they constantly forget that at any time anywhere, and in any circumstance, dealing with or associating themselves with stupid individuals invariably constitutes a costly error.

5. A stupid person is the most dangerous type of person there is."

Read my latest article published in The Punch

 

 

 

Fast Thinking: Referral Selling is Just Sophisticated Begging!

Read my latest post from the Fast Thinking Think Tank:

Referral Selling is Just Sophisticated Begging!

Just about every course or book that deals with getting referrals teaches you one single referral method - "asking" for referrals. They'll tell you how you have to give good service and then they give you a formula for asking for referrals. As far as it goes that may be all well and good but there's a HUGE problem with this approach. People HATE to ask for referrals. You hate it, I hate it, and the people that get asked hate it.  

For the approach to work you have to not only get over your discomfort over asking someone for the referral but they then have to get over their discomfort in asking someone else on your behalf.

...

So have a referral system if you want but make sure that you are providing an experience that is interesting. Be different, be quirky, be fun, be weird, be whatever you want but be something more than the norm. Share your stories and tell the world what you are up to in every transaction.

 Read the full post here.

Fast Thinking: You Know It’s Me ‘Cause I Signed My Name

Read my latest post from the Fast Thinking Think Tank:

You Know It’s Me ‘Cause I Signed My Name

When I read something sent out by a CEO or corporate leader I should be able to have the feeling that no one else could have written it. This is an absolute non-negotiable. Everyone’s writing needs to be different from everyone else’s.

And the only way that happens is if writers make different choices when they write, choices about the topics they pick, the words they use, the details they include, different beginning and ending strategies, and so on. The set of all the different choices a writer makes determines what is often called the “voice” in a piece of writing.

Full post here

Fast Thinking: Why Best Practice is Second-Best

In my latest post for Fast Thinking we examine the phrase and concept "best practice" and why, if you follow "best practice" you are by definition second-best.

WHY BEST PRACTICE IS SECOND-BEST    

The phrase "best practice" is tossed around so often now that it seems ludicrous that anyone would dare to question it but question it I must. Firstly, if you follow best practice then you are, by definition, second. You are simply copying someone else who beat you to it and worse than that you are often copying a standard that no one has given any thought to.

You see "best" implies that someone undertook some sort of comparative analysis and concluded that the "practice" in discussion was better than any known alternatives.

 

Read the full article here. 

 

Article on The Punch: Want to be Happy? Oprah Holds the Key

Here's my latest contribution to Australian online publication The Punch - full article can be read here.

Want to be Happy? Oprah Holds the Key

Oprah Winfrey (depending on which figures you believe) has anywhere between 25 and 45 million people tuning in every week to watch her uplifting combination of positive thinking and self-acceptance. 

Happiness takes a lifetime, unless you meet Oprah. Photo: Getty.

This “Oprah Movement” love Oprah and they hang on her every word – if Oprah says Australia is a nice place then somewhere between 25 and 45 million people are going to believe it. 

That is why Julia is so keen to be on the show and give Oprah a warm Prime Ministerial hug. 

However, while we should be grateful for Oprah’s endorsement it might pay to pause and consider what it is that we might be endorsing in return.

The Oprah Movement might best be summarized as the search for a shortcut to happiness except that Oprah and her followers are convinced she has already found it. 

Which Businessman Has the Emotional Intelligence of a Petulant 4 Year-Old?

Read more in my article in today's edition of The Punch titled 'Ralph...what we have here is a failure to communicate

 

Fast Th!nking: How ‘Symbolism’ Can Make or Break CEOs and Their Companies

Here's my latest article I posted on Fast Th!nking as part of their Think Tank earlier this month:

How ‘Symbolism’ Can Make or Break CEOs and Their Companies

The symbolic channel in communication consists of symbols used to represent ideas or emotions and such is its power that CEOs and major companies are consistently undermined by it.

Most companies never consider the symbolic impact of their actions and how that may result in a completely different message being received to what was intended.

Full post here

More Think Tank articles to come...