In a recent chamber meeting, the people in attendance were invited to 'stand and give your 30 second commercial'.

Scarier than Halloween I tell you.

First, few people apparently know how long "30 seconds" really is. Most took well over a minute. And I'm being kind when I say that, too!

Second, most had no idea or plan of what to say. So they rambled. And rambled. And . . . well, you get the idea. The term 'verbal diarrhea' sort of seems apt to me in retrospect.

Third, those who had a semblance of a structured 'commercial' -- their Elevator Speech as it's popularly known -- sounded more CUTE than ATTRACTIVE and, as a result, they didn't get what they really wanted -- RESPONSE from any qualified people in the room to want to know more about them and the services they offered.

I'm not belaboring the need for a tight commercial. But for the love of ____, please learn how to use the O. B. C. or 'One Breath Commercial'.

It's simple: You have to be able to say it in ONE breath. Why? Because any longer and the average American's attention span will be exceeded and your message will be lost on them.

Here's the formula:

FIRST . . . "I work with _________________________" Mention the kind of person or 'Ideal Client' you are best suited to help or want to work with as an 'ideal client'. The qualified people in the room will identify with their 'description' and pay attention to what you are about to say next.

SECOND . . . "And I help them to ________________________ . . ." Here, you want to describe the beneficial difference you create in a client's life. Again, if that's attractive to the very kind of people you want to attract, you'll find you will . . . attract them to you before the meeting's over.

Once they come up and identify themselves to you . . . THEN . . . it's time for a more involved 'commercial' about 'how' you create those cool benefits you referred to in your O.B.C.

See . . . that was easy, wasn't it?

Go and use it with potential prospects and I bet you'll soon see what wonderful 'magic' you can create -- both for them and yourself.

I was just speaking with Matthew Scott -- a fellow Duct Tape Marketing Coach from the Portland, OR area.

We were talking about 'proposals'. And whether you need them or not.

Matthew's take is you don't. You don't need to make proposals.

Now before you get all crazy on that. Consider the source. Matthew is quite accomplished:

Five years ago he was a Co-Founder & Vice President, Sales & Marketing of a San Diego biotech company.

In the span of three months he hired over 125 sales consultants globally.

In the medical device world dealing with hospitals and purchasing committees, the default response was “send us a proposal.”

He said it went something like this…"My sales consultants would think they had a good prospect when they heard those words, go home and often times design a proposal format to submit.

Hours were spent and pretty formatted documents submitted. They would wait for response or would sometimes grow restless and unknowingly begin to be perceived as a “sales stalker.”

Often times without knowing it, they would soon allow this to get the life sucked out of them emotionally or even give them a false sense of security that they were close to making a sale because they submitted a proposal."

Matthew observed this during his ride-alongs and monthly coaching sessions. So he made the decision to not allow his sales consultants to submit any more written proposals.

"I then established a training program on delivering a verbal not a written proposal. My sales team really struggled with this decision. But we trained as a team and each sales consultant role-played and developed the necessary attitudinal strengths to help them deal with possible hospital responses."

Matthew's Results:

1) Sales grew by 43% in a three month time period.

2) Sales Consultants did not miss sitting in front of computer knocking out a presentation.

3) Increased revenues were directly attributed to fact that they sold at list price vs. getting caught in a bidding war by submitting a proposal and then having customer shop their proposal around for a better deal.

4) Sales Consultants confidence grew by being part of a paradigm shift in their market by not cranking out endless proposals and not making any money by waiting for “we will review and get back to you.”

5) Since they sold a great product that made a unique difference in patients lives-the simple approach of eliminating a written proposal eliminated them being lumped into the blurry difference between their features and benefits and their competition's feature and benefits.

I think of how I've recently closed a number of sales without a 'written proposal'. It CAN BE DONE!

You want to know how? Call me . . . 860-798-6964. I'll let you in on the 'dirty little secret' that Matthew and I have learned.

Until next time . . .

All the best!

I read a post on a blog of Sri Dasgupta. Sri is an author (Effortless Networking) and fellow marketeer. I interviewed Sri earlier this year for an article I wrote. I've enjoyed her blog posts and she just addressed an issue I want to share with you.

The issue?

That saying 'too much' and 'too soon' with a person you're just meeting can be deleterious to your wealth.

Here's the point I'm making:
"Saying just enough about you / what you do to spark interest is good. Saying too much can hurt you."

Read her post . . . and think TWICE . . . maybe THREE TIMES . . . before you go beyond a 'One Breath Commercial'.

Also, keep in mind that your objective with a brand new contact is usually to secure an appointment for further discussion, not to have that discussion 'on the spot'.

Think about it . . . and practice it. You and your banker will be more familiar because of it!

People who don't know when to shut-UP are usually shut-DOWN!

Check out Sri's posting here: CLICK HERE