Elevator speech and referrals

I heard something tonight I wanted to get input on.

In your opinion, do prospects and customers need to know your elevator speech if you expect to get referrals or expect them to recommend you to other people?

Can you explain what elevator speech is? I haven't heard that term before....or I don't remember it. My son used to refer to our taste in music as elevator music. lol.

Originally Posted by Marcus I heard something tonight I wanted to get input on. In your opinion, do prospects and customers need to know your elevator speech if you expect to get referrals or expect them to recommend you to other people?

You're actually asking about two different things--referrals and word-of-mouth marketing. They are very different animals. One, referrals, is a proactive endeavor while WOM is passive. One you control, the other is completely out of your hands.

However, the basic answer to each is the same--no. Customers and prospects aren't your salespeople. They are your customers and prospects.

What they do need to know is 1) their experience with you and what you've done for them, 2) who a good referral for you is, and 3) that you build your business on referrals.

With referrals, you work with your client to get introductions to others they know that may need your services. It is an active process that if learned and done correctly, can generate 4, 5, or more high quality referrals from every one of your customers. It takes effort to learn the process that really works, but the payoff is huge.

With WOM you encourage but have no control. The customer, if they do recommend you, simply recommends you. The prospect may or may not choose to contact you. If they do, that's great. If they don't, that's a lost opportunity.

But in either case, it isn't your elevator speech they need. Their experience with you, knowing whom to refer, and that you actively want referrals is what they need to know. People aren't going to call you because your customer knows your elevator speech--they call because of what you have done for the customer.

Originally Posted by pmccord However, the basic answer to each is the same--no. Customers and prospects aren't your salespeople. They are your customers and prospects. What they do need to know is 1) their experience with you and what you've done for them, 2) who a good referral for you is, and 3) that you build your business on referrals.

This is good information. Thank you.

Originally Posted by ozzie Can you explain what elevator speech is?

A link is worth a hundred words.

http://www.quintcareers.com/job-sear...or_speech.html
http://www.quintcareers.com/elevator...dos-donts.html

Originally Posted by Calvin A link is worth a hundred words. http://www.quintcareers.com/job-sear...or_speech.html http://www.quintcareers.com/elevator...dos-donts.html

Thanks for the links...

Hi Marcus

I'd say that anyone you want to refer you to others needs to have direct experience of the following things:

1) What you do
2) How it adds value
3) The kind of people your service / product adds value to

With direct experience (i.e. as a customer) their recommendation is credible and powerful.

Without direct experience, they're just saying what you'd like them to say - and that's the difference between a testimonial and an ad!

Wha-hey I got a signature!!

An "Elevator Speech or Pitch" is a carefully planned, concise, and well-practiced description about your company and should briefly tell people what you do and for whom. The elevator speech or pitch can be delivered in the time span of an elevator ride which is about thirty seconds and should be kept to 100-150 words.