This morning,
a Faneuil Hall street performer wakes up,
packs his suitcase,
and heads to Quincy Market.
He starts with nothing.
No stage.
No audience.
No paycheck.
Nothing but his skills.
His marketing skills.
Because no matter how impressive he is juggling llamas while riding a 20-foot unicycle and breathing fire,
If he cannot draw an audience, he will starve.
He’s not so different from you and me.
I am running the kick-off meeting for my yearly volunteer project.
The room is packed, and I realize that my team has created this audience.
Emails, phone calls, presentations.
A life changing experience for high school juniors.
People are curious.
They want to hear more.
They are here because we got their attention.
How do you create your audience?
It starts with your Elevator Pitch.
Here are 3 Elevator Pitch Tips on Creating an Audience:
1. Engage Your Prospect
Would you like to see me juggle llamas while breathing fire and riding a 20 foot unicycle?
It’s specific, outlandish, and slightly ridiculous.
It grabs your attention.
Makes you stick around to hear more.
How do you grab your prospect’s attention?
2. Tell a Story
The performer does his actual trick only once.
At the very end.
He builds anticipation through other impressive yet lesser tricks.
All the while that 20 foot unicycle is lying there on the ground.
Taunting you.
Can’t leave before I see that in action.
How do you build anticipation?
3. The Payoff
If the performer spent his day doing his outlandish trick over and over,
People would nod,
Think wow, that’s impressive,
And then hurry along.
No sales.
Instead we stick around for the promise of something better.
It can take over an hour before he gathers enough people to actually start his performance.
It seems like a long time to wait for the payoff.
And somehow we can’t seem to tear ourselves away.
We like the guy.
We respect his skills.
We want to see him deliver on what he promised.
The payoff is always worth it.
It has to be.
That’s why we open our wallets when he passes the hat.
How does your payoff encourage prospects to open their wallets?