If you’re in a financial advisory career, you’d do well to have a short, compelling, knock ’em between the eyes elevator speech. An impression is made about you in the minds of those you meet within the first 7 seconds.
What’s an elevator speech? A 15 to 30 second commercial about you and what you do. It includes your unique selling proposition (your USP).
Before you can craft this most important tool, you must first answer the following:
- Whom do I serve?
- Is it a niche?
- Who do I work really well with (e.g. business owners, retirees, young parents)?
- What’s my motivation for being in the financial planning industry? What do I hope to accomplish?
- What makes me different from the other thousands of financial advisors out there?
Getting clear on the answers to these questions will give you an uncommon advantage.
Next, use power words and phrases that are also action words that you’ll use to construct your elevator speech:
- I empower ____________(your target market) with strategies for wealthy living…
- I give _________(your target market) the tools to create wealth…
- I teach strategies that enrich the lives of ____________(your target market)…
You’re starting to get the idea, I presume.
One thing you must absolutely avoid, and that is, when people ask you what you do, you must NEVER simply say “I’m a financial advisor” or “I’m a financial planner”.
There are two reasons you never want to give this canned response:
- You miss a golden marketing opportunity, and
- You leave the person to think of you according to the image they have in their own mind of financial planners. (And you never want to leave clients, or potential clients, alone in their heads without adult supervision.)
Your elevator speech should:
- Be compelling
- Arrest the attention of the person(s) you’re communicating with
- Be intriguing enough that the person is curious to know more about you and what you do
Once you’ve constructed it, try your new elevator speech out on folks you know and respect to get their feedback. After incorporating the feedback, hone your speech by practicing it over and over until it becomes natural and the words roll off your tongue.
Remember, you only have 7 seconds to impress someone new. Make them count!