Your Empire State Building 'Elevator Speech'

75 years ago today, May 1, 1931...President Herbert Hoover flipped on the lights to the Empire State Building.

At 102 stories, the building reigned as the world's tallest skyscraper until 1974. The building's construction was completed in an unbelievably short period of time...one year and 45 days. Upon completion, in the midst of the Depression, it was viewed as a real-estate failure due to the low occupancy rates. Today, it has become an icon of all things New York.

Your Elevator Speech. It takes about 60 seconds to go from the Art Deco ground floor lobby, to the 86th Observatory Floor of the Empire State Building. If it takes this long to deliver your Elevator Speech, your listening victim will have exited on the 43rd floor, or will be very tempted to climb over the restraining wire on the Observation Deck...and jump.

The central goal of your Elevator Speech is positively, absolutely NOT to tell a stranger everything about you and your business in 60 seconds or less. The ultimate goal is to say something startling, intriguing, or memorable that prompts the prospect to lean in and say, "Wait...tell me more about what you just said."

The ultimate goal is to say something memorable, and different. The ultimate goal is to spark a dialogue.

I've listened to hundreds, if not thousands, of Elevator Speeches from financial advisors in my day. Sadly, few stand out. Mediocrity and sameness rules. Everything sounds more or less the same.

The biggest mistake that I hear is that advisors tend to emphasize the features of their practice that make them 'better.' However, in the choice between different or better, different is better than 'better.' People remember different.

The other mistakes that advisors make is to pack their Elevator Speech with boring detail. Few prospects care much about the mundane specifics of what your practice is about. Ditch the detail. Say something snappy and memorable.

Speaking of memorable, check out this remarkable photo, shot by Lewis Hine during construction of the Empire State Building, of a steel-worker hundreds of feet above the corner of Fifth Avenue and 34th Street.

I get the willies just seeing this picture. How could they even do this?

Comments

[Proactol]

An investor who has a defined investment horizon, and who desires to hold bonds in their portfolio should NEVER wait...they should buy bonds now, regardless of the current level of interest rates.

[cycling clothes women]

The other mistakes that advisors make is to pack their Elevator Speech with boring detail. Few prospects care much about the mundane specifics of what your practice is about. Ditch the detail. Say something snappy and memorable.