Recently, I heard a financial advisor, a business consultant, and a mortgage broker, each with a different area of expertise and a different style of speaking, give their 5-minute networking speech at a Zoom meeting. They all made the same mistake
that could easily have been avoided.
They tried to say too much in too short a time.
It's an easy trap to fall into, especially when you're 'on the clock', and you have so much good stuff to share. You want them to know all the benefits of working with you, to appreciate your years of experience and knowledge, and to understand that you really are the expert they need. Five minutes doesn’t seem long enough to give all the information you want them to have. Or is it?
It's not what you say, but how you say it.
One common mistake many of us make is to tell the audience every single thing we can possibly do for them. It's a sort of one from Column A, one from Column B approach. If they don't need the one from Column A, they may need the one from Column B, or C, or D. Unfortunately, we end up presenting a laundry list of services that all sound alike. The audience is overwhelmed with too many choices and may stop listening after the first minute or
two. It's too much of an effort to remember any of them.
A better way, especially when your time is limited, is to remember three small words that have a huge impact: Less Is More.
Choose the two or three services that are perfect for this particular audience at this particular time. In five minutes, you'll have a little over a minute to introduce yourself and describe your expertise. In the middle 2-3 minutes you can highlight your key products or services and tell a story to illustrate them and finish up the last minute with your bang up offer and call to action.
Forget the laundry list. Simply tell a story about a couple of previously successful clients who really benefitted from your expertise. Describe the problem they came to you to solve and the solution you provided. Briefly mention your education and experience within the story rather than waste precious time listing them separately.
That's all there is to it. A couple of brief stories about people whose problems you solved and how happy they were to work with you. Audiences remember stories about others like themselves. Stories make it easy for them to remember what you can do for them. Make them bright and brief and avoid audience overload. The less effort they need to exert to remember what you can do for them, the more willing they'll be to actually
contact you and make the connection.
Next time, and every time, you speak, remember that Less Is More!
