Grab them by the throat and then ask for what you want

A good 60-second presentation grabs the audience by the throat (figuratively speaking) and gets to the point fast. When you have their attention, ask for the referral.

A good 60-second presentation is not cute or oblique. Simple and succinct beats rambling every time.

As a BNI assistant director, I visit a lot of chapters and I’ve noticed that a lot of members deliver 60-second presentations like they’re telling a joke – not necessarily funny, but with the punch line delivered at the end… by which time you’ve lost your audience.

A good formula is the proven AIDA principle – grab Attention, stimulate Interest, create Desire and call to Action.

Let me use as an example a 60 second presentation I delivered to my chapter last week. It’s not a shinning example, but I think it does the job…

Example:

“When Elias Howe invented the sewing machine, women laughed at him.

“‘What,’ they wanted to know, ‘would we do with all the extra time your machine will give us?’

“As business people we’re always striving to be innovative, to be the first to deliver a bigger, newer and better offering to the market ahead of the competition.

“Elias Howe’s sewing machine was all of these things.

“Yet Elias Howe lived his life in borrowed suits, little knowing that one-day his machine would be instrumental in making the very suits he could not afford.

“It doesn’t matter how good, or commonplace, your product or your service is, you will end up in the poor house if you don’t know how to sell.

“What matters most, is how well you market your products and services – just ask a successful insurance salesman, or mortgage broker.

“My job is to help you sell your products and services better than the competition.

“A good referral for me this week is any broker groups or companies in the insurance, mortgage and financial planning industry.

“Sovereign recently retained me to present to their brokers around the country on how they could use social media to optimise their existing referral networks. I would like to offer that seminar, with a manual, to other broker groups.

“Colin Kennedy, Iron Road Communications. A picture may be worth a thousand words, but a few well chosen words will paint a picture.”

In this example I used a story to get attention, I turned a common belief on its head and then showed people that the ‘holy grail’ is actually far more attainable than they thought, provided they just do what they do well.

And then I was very specific in my referral request. That’s what is most important. Be very specific in your referral request.

Colin Kennedy is a keynote speaker, writer and content marketing consultant. As BNI New Zealand’s marketing director he is responsible for the organisation’s communications strategy, and also serves as an assistant director for North Central region of BNI.