Do You Have a 20 Word Intro?
Goal: Teach the structure for a perfect introduction
Recently I sat through a three day webinar on creating online courses. It was awesome and pieces of it were REMARKABLE- worth remarking about.
One of the pieces was a short segment by Kimberly Hobscheid. She presented a segment of determining your 20 word introduction. It was simple but yet very effective.
Have you been asked, “So what do you do?”. Most of us get asked this often so I tuned into her presentation. Often we tell people our profession. Some of us even have an elevator speech in which we tell them what products or services we offer. Often the elevator speech is overkill full of data.
According to Kimberly, research she has done points to people only remembering about a 20 word introduction. More than that and key data is lost and never converted into information.
So what does a 20 word introduction look like?
When meeting a new person, there are four pieces to your 20 word introduction:
- Your name …just your first name
- Who do you serve
- What do I get if I work with you
- What will you do for/to me in order to get that result
If I am discussing a new role or helping a project management organization (PMO)I would use:
I’m Robert. [PAUSE] I help companies [PAUSE] determine gaps in their people, process, and products and how to eliminate them to become world class [PAUSE] by working with or within the PMO.
If I am at a networking event that appeals to my customers regarding getting more time and energy in their lives I would use:
I’m Robert. [PAUSE] I help professionals [PAUSE] balance their time and energy to find joy so that can spend it with their families [PAUSE] by teaching Time and Energy Management courses.
Notice that I inserted the [PAUSE] to let you know that the timing makes a big difference. Why? It is pauses between notes that makes music music. If you played just notes it will sound like a blur. Without the PAUSE the receiver will not be able to remember your powerful message.
How effective is this 20 word intro idea?
Kimberly said that once she created it and tested it at an event one of the people there raved about her offer to the other people he met AND called her six months later to work with her.
I say that is pretty remarkable.
NOTE: To learn more about her work, Kimberly’s website is https://entrepreneursrocketfuel.com/
My two cents….(this is what I earned from Medium.com in October 2020)
I got to go…my future self alarm went off
Robert Trajkovski is professional with experience in leading people and projects in Steel/ Power, Refining, Chemicals, Industrial Gasses, Software, Consulting and Academia. He has worked for both owners and engineering companies. In addition, he has instructed 73+ courses at several institutions and often offers his courses for free on LinkedIn.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/roberttrajkovski/
If you enjoyed this article, I strongly urge you to follow the link to my course below and sign up. It is being created and a beta group is being formed.
THE ULTIMATE Time AND Energy Management course is at: https://robert-s-school-b48a.thinkific.com/courses/time-and-energy-management
