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So what do you do?: The art of promoting yourselfA big challenge for independent professionals and small businesses, especially when starting out, is generating visibility that leads to sales. It's important to knowing what to say about yourself and your operations and services when asked - “so what do you do?”
I am reminded of the ‘elevator speech theory’ (I do not know to whom to attribute its invention), which simply poses “if you were in a lift that opens on the tenth floor and in walks Bill Gates who asks what you do – what would you say, and you have only until the elevator gets to the bottom?” I have struggled with this at times, and have found that when I get it right, results flow – which could be as simple yet important as getting more time to converse with the person asking the question of me. The need to say what you do is as important for an independent professional, as it is for a smaller organisation or even a faculty in an education institution. Competition is tough and never assume you (or your organisation) is the only solution. Returning to - “what do you do?”, I often hear responses such as “I am a human resource development specialist”; “I am an M&E specialist”; and so on. This does not help – the key is to talk in terms that are important to the listener. So, what could be an alternative approach to responding to such a question? Present your response by talking about what you do, by how you address issues your clients experience, rather than what you are called. For example: Instead of – “I am the MD of Global Business and Development Solutions” Try – “we work with education and training institutions and small enterprises that are having difficulty in expanding their international business activities” Instead of – “I am a human resource development specialist” Try – “I work with public and private enterprises across Asia who are experiencing challenges in implementing a long-term human resource development strategy” So why is this approach valuable? If you are responding to someone that might be interested in your services, it lets them know you cover challenges that might be relevant for them and provokes more interest. They now associate with what you do, as they experience the challenges you work with and understand your area of expertise. And why would you want the conversation to continue? You can then tell them more about the issues you have addressed for others and the solutions you were able to offer. This is presented in terms that relate to the challenges your listener might face, and could benefit from your involvement. So how could the statements continue? For the HRD specialist: “I work with public and private enterprises across Asia who are experiencing challenges in implementing a long-term human resource development strategy…….. Many of our services industry clients were experiencing high levels of turnover, which was seriously impacting on their service level standards and their costs of recruitment and re-training……. We have been able to reduce staff turnover for our clients by introducing a career-path and training and development program; and we have also seen this increase service performance while operation’s costs have reduced.” For the small enterprise: “We work with education and training institutions and small enterprises that are having difficulty in expanding their international business activities…….Many of our clients find the time and costs associated with tender and proposal development prohibitive……..We have been able to assist clients by developing for them proposal frameworks and guidelines that reduce administrative compilation requirements and associated costs.” So, how could this possibly be relevant where my business has to tender for all my activities, or where I have to apply for all opportunities through a CV submission? No organisation just submits tenders. No person just offers a CV - at least, not if you want to be effective. The successful managing contractor meeting with stakeholders is unlikely to simply state “we are XYZ Contractors”. At some point they talk about what they do, what issues they address, what value they have added etc. The successful individual - at some point - will benefit from talking with the prospective employer – be it a contracting firm or agency. The successful individual is likely to say more than “I am a HRD specialist” as the likely response could be “of course you are, that is the position we are recruiting for!” Similarly, a successful CV is likely to be more than a chronological representation of roles – and next month I will present some ideas about how to tailor CV’s to the activity in question, so it not only sells the individual, it also extends the page limit of the technical response! The principles are consistent:
7 May 2005 |
Mel's ArchivesLateral thinking in tender preparation |
