What do you tell people about yourself when you are introduced to them in a business situation or a function for business people? Do they remember you as “Bill Smith, the happy upholsterer”
or just another “Bill Smith (or it might have been Jones)”?
Copyright © 2006 by John Williams 27. http://www.ezymagic.com/
“Maximum Memory Power” by John Williams
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Prepare a brief, clear couple of sentences which describe you and what you do. “I’m an accountant” won’t cut it, but maybe something like, “I help people to secure their assets and reduce their taxes” might make you be noticed and remembered better.
How long? Three sentences would be the absolute maximum. Imagine that the introduction might happen (as it has to me a couple of times) in an elevator and you only have the few seconds until they reach their floor to get your message across without being pushy.
Don’t Mess Up Your Message.
Like most people, I’ve got an answering machine. I realize that some people don’t like leaving messages on answering machines.
Let’s hope that your competitors are like that! I know that we all prefer to talk to a real person much more than to a piece of silicon but the reality is that few people can always be available when we call them.
The people who buy and maintain answering machines are demonstrating that they don’t want to miss you and that they will call you back if you leave a clear message (well, 99% of them, anyway!)
I even put time into making my taped message, which asks you to leave your contact information, as friendly and non-canned as I can.
But, every week there are at least a couple of messages which don’t contain enough information about the caller, or why I should contact them!
There is a scam where people leave messages on answering machines and when the business person dials the number in their message, their call is switched to an overseas exchange and the call is charged at a very high rate!
Copyright © 2006 by John Williams 28. http://www.ezymagic.com/
“Maximum Memory Power” by John Williams
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So, we have to make sure that the person we call knows who we are, why they should return our call (how they may benefit) and that it is legitimate.
I recommend that you prepare a short message – like the elevator introduction – before you even pick up the phone for your next call.
Make sure that you do spell your name if it might not be clear to someone that has not heard it before and repeat your phone number with its area code, if appropriate. You might be amazed how many people rattle off their phone number faster than the fire rate of a modern machine gun because they know it so well.
You can tell the person what might be the best time to call you back, but I prefer to give them an alternative number, such as my mobile phone, rather than announce to people whom I don’t know when my office will be unattended!
Copyright © 2006 by John Williams 29. http://www.ezymagic.com/
“Maximum Memory Power” by John Williams
Page 30 of 67