Why is twitter so successful? Because sometimes less is more...
What would you say if I told you that applying "twitter principles" to your verbal interactions you would get you better results?
Some of you that are expert networkers may chuckle...so I am not talking to them, they are too set in their ways. I am talking to the people with open minds, that are driven to get results and care about really attracting the right client/partner to reach their goals. The same kind of people that understand the dynamic of social media.
so are you ready to find out how?
My first question is...
Do you attend networking functions?
If your answer is yes...my next question is;
Do you know how to pitch what you do in a 12 second time span? **Many will say yes, but few can actually do it. I thought about this after a friend of mine, Robert Fernandez Bucheli VP of Mobile Matters brought it to my attention as we discussed his takeaways from a recent conference he attended.
I started to question myself. Am I losing opportunities to find new clients / strategic partners because I am too busy selling them what I do? I could not honestly answer the question, so I decided to do two things upon attending my next networking function.
The first thing I did was revise my introduction / elevator pitch from 30 seconds to a 12 second personal brand statement.
I used to sound like this...
"My name is George Torres. I own Sofrito Media Group a multicultural social media consulting and event management company...blah blah blah blah....for 22 more seconds and blah blah blah."
Applying the twitter principles to the same message, It now sounds like this...
"My name is George Torres. I help companies improve their brand visibility, I specialize in multicultural niche markets by creating content that connects their brand to the unmet needs of their targets"
It probably was not the best pitch but it was my first and it sure was a departure from what I was doing, and this networking event called for this kind of pitch.
What really changes is that I give them a Unique Value Proposition in one brief soundbyte with enough "keywords" to stimulate a dialogue instead of "reciting a resume".
Next, I decided that I would not elaborate on my business any further than my pitch unless asked. That resulted shorter conversations (mainly because we were not competing to talk) and but I also had extra time to just LISTEN and UNCOVER opportunities with these prospective customers.
The person that really "gets" your pitch and connects with it, will start asking you questions right away, which is a good thing and will probably get you closer to some type of collaboration.
The person who does not get it and decides to talk about their business for 30 seconds is also giving YOU an opportunity to find out more about what matters to them. You still have opportunity, it will just require a follow up when they are not in "networking" mode.
As a result of my experiment, I landed two opportunities after I followed up and referenced some of the talking points they had during the meeting.
Not too bad huh?
I should also mention that I was able to talk to many more people than usual in the allotted time span.
In conclusion, I have decided to test different pitches using different buzz words moving forward to see which get the best responses...or conversion.
I would love for each of you to share your twitter pitches in the comment section. What works for you?
** The 12 second time span was based on the concept of video tweet service http://12seconds.tv/
George Torres
The Urban Jibaro
Sofrito Media Group
Social Media I Branding I Event Management
Skype: urbanjibaro
