Have you practiced your 30 second elevator speech?
The concept of an elevator speech is that you happen to get on an elevator just as a potential client is also getting on the same elevator. You are riding up only one floor together. While the doors are closed, you have 30 seconds to make a convincing sales pitch. Those 30 seconds are all you have to convince your potential client to consider your business for future work.
A 30 second elevator speech is not a sales call and is not designed to gain clients’ immediate business. Instead, an elevator speech should be conversationally designed to help potential clients remember your name and call you back, with interest, at a later time.
Though you probably don’t often encounter your potential lawn care clients in an elevator, you may encounter them at coffee shops, post offices, and in line at the bank.
If you had only 30 seconds to convince a client to use your services, what would you tell them?
Introduction:
Introduce yourself and your company. A firm handshake with your first name will suffice here. A good looking shirt with your lawn care company’s name and logo will help you sidestep repeating your company name at this point.
Expertise – Special Equipment
What sets your company apart from the rest of the lawn care companies in your community? Without making your sales pitch sound like a sales pitch, entice your client by relaying specialized knowledge about a particular lawn care problem you are currently researching or by bragging on a specialized piece of commercial lawn care equipment.
When leaf raking season rolls around, I like to carry flyers and pictures of my leaf collection equipment. Leaf blowers are cool and even people who are disinterested in lawn care like to look at commercial leaf blowers in action.
Everyone knows what a lawn mower looks like but not many people are familiar with commercial leaf blowers that can move 800 cubic feet of leaves per minute. They are impressive and anyone with a yard full of leaves will be interested in the ability of such a machine. Knowing my company has the equipment to handle such a job keeps my name in potential customers’ minds.
Quick Exit – Leave Them Wanting More
An elevator speech should be 30 seconds or less and 130 words or less. Nothing is worse than a salesperson who kills a potential sale by rambling on and on. If you are truly in the elevator, hand them your business card and exit as soon as you reach your floor. Remember, you are not trying to close the sale here, you are only trying to pique their interest. If they are interested in having you visit their residence for an estimate, get their name, address, and phone number.
I would love to hear your elevator speech. If you have never written a 30 second elevator speech, write one now and leave it in the comments section below.
