Don’t be nice

Last night at a networking event, ten agency leaders were put on the spot and asked to introduce their business to a room of about 120 people.

Each person had about 20 seconds.

As I stood in the audience, I was struck that only two or three were able to succinctly say what their business specialised in.

Instead of brilliant elevator pitches, this is just some of what I heard -

"We're a full service agency"
"We're **** and we're nice people"
"We're **** and we've been going for 15 years"
"We're a brand agency. We have designers and creatives in-house"
"We film, edit and do creative"
"We're a nice bunch"

Every agency leader should be able to precisely deliver what their agency does in just a few seconds.

But it's easier said than done.

If you want to your business to be regarded as experts, practice your intro and then practice it again.

And then practice it again. Look in the mirror and say it.

Make sure that, in 20 seconds, you can confidently say -

"We do X (your specialism) for Y (your market) and we solve Z (problems)"

If you can do that, every single introduction you make will be a million times more compelling.

Being 'nice people' is not the right opener.