The 5 Keys to Creating the Ultimate 15 Second Commercial

As promised on yesterday's post here are the steps for creating a great 15 second commercial:

Hook: Your hook, usually phrased in the form of a question should be designed to draw your listeners in.  The idea is to use words like "Did you know...? or Have you heard...?" to frame a problem that is universally agreed upon by your listener(s) and which you are uniquely situated to solve.

For example, I am an expert at helping people to differentiate themselves by marketing their personal brands.  So I might say, "Do you know how professionals have a tough time creating messages that their prospects remember?" or I might be even more blunt and say, "Do you want to learn how to develop more new business?"

Specialization:  What is your specialty?  For example I specialize in teaching my clients how to create compelling personal brands and market themselves until they become The Person to See in their businesses.  The key here is simplicity and brevity.  Pick one thing you are superb at and then become known for that one thing.  Once you are in the door you can up sell your other talents.  If you bombard your listeners with too many specialties you will just become noise.

Typical Clients: Sad to say, but people are lemmings.  They won't take action until someone they trust goes before them to make sure the way is safe.  Keep this in mind when you list your typical clients.  Credential yourself with the caliber of your clients. 

For example, a lawyer might say, "My clients include Microsoft, GM and Goldman Sachs."  These examples say two things, I represent some real blue chip clients and I can effectively repreent clients in many different industries.  Doing business with everyone under the sun hurts your personal brand credibility.

Benefit: Your prospects expect you to say great things about yourself and they expect you to produce referrals who will do the same.  What they are looking for is social OR third party evidence of your effectiveness. In the words of Jeffrey Fox, author of How to be a Rainmaker think dollarization.  Express your benefit in terms of dollars and cents.

A commercial real estate broker might say, "I recently represented Bank of America on the renegotiation of its headquarters lease and saved them 3.4 million over the remaining four years of their lease."

Action Step: I am convinced that the number one reason most of people leave business on the table is their failure to follow up.  There are four basic options:

Ask for the sale

Be a connector

Schedule a follow up meeting with the other person to brainstorm ideas for helping each other grow your business-even though there is no opportunity to do business with one another

Intentionally decide not to follow up in anyway way

The truth is most people don't follow up because they are scared, don't know how or just plain lazy!

There you have it.  You know what I will say now, the magic is in the doing.  Are you a doer or just a talker?

If you want my 15 second commercial as a reference point while you are working on your own go to our website and shoot me an email.