Business Networking in Southern New Jersey

Your Business in 30 Seconds 

Tips for making your 30-second pitch more effective

• Don't try to squeeze everything into your commercial. I see this at every event that I attend. A person stands up and starts to give a complete run-down of everything that his or her business can do. The result is that everyone listening to the commercial gets lost in a sea of options and details.
• Focus on only one aspect of your business in your commercial. Often I hear people put three or more target words into the pitch. My advice is to target a single element of your business.
• Avoid jargon terms at all costs. Think about it this way: knowing the jargon may make you feel smarter, but it makes listeners feel dumb. So you will confuse and alienate people at the event.
• Create colorful analogies. Most commercials are boring. Think about your particular product or service in terms of something in a completely different context.
• If others copy the style or structure of your commercial, smile. I used to use a tagline in mine, "If your website looks like every other website, then you are not one of our clients." My commercial was followed by "If your tax return looks like..." and "If your bathroom remodel..." and "If your sales results..." and so on. Every time someone copied the structure, everyone looked back at me, and my message was reinforced.
• Remember that the best networking develops over time. Positive results from networking happen when others are comfortable with you.
• Rotate your commercial. If you attend any networking events that are held regularly with the same people (BNI, LeTip or similar), you should give a different commercial each week. People who often complain about referral groups have horrible or boring commercials.
• Track the results of each commercial. Working from your list of commercials, make notes as to which commercials produce the best immediate reactions, lasting impression, copycat commercials (see above), and importantly the most quality referrals. Get rid of the commercials that do nothing and write new ones.
• Steal great ideas. If you hear someone give a great commercial, write it down and tailor it to your business. This can be risky as sometimes people try to steal someone else's humor or personality. Make sure that it is a good fit. If it feels awkward to you, it will be horrible for others.
• Slow down and use dramatic silence. At networking events, people are generally in a hurry to squeeze everything into a small space. Use a dramatic pause in your commercial and watch every set of eyes focus on you. Then deliver the winning phrase. Hard to do but a huge payoff if you take the risk.