Elevator Speech
- Thread starter bsemi1
- Start date
- 15,041
Yes, because that is such a common conversation in an elevator...
Going with both so I can create lots of inventory for my fellow insurance professionals.. That is just the kind of guy I am.. Always thinking of others.
Last edited:
No wonder serious new posters leave as soon as they get here. Now that we've concluded the comedy portion of the program, let's get on to the feature presentation.
Original poster, you understand an elevator speech is something that you can say in 15-20 seconds that ideally tells the person you're talking to what you do and who you do it for.
It can't be too "cute", like:
"I protect your tomorrows"
"I turn dreams into reality"
"I sell dollars for pennies" (or the other million variations of this)
You get the idea. All of those approaches had their day, but maybe aren't great for now. Neither can you say "I sell life insurance" or similar if you actually want to engage the prospect in a dialogue. On the other hand, that line works great if you want to quickly end the conversation.
The EV needs to address who you're talking to, so for example, say you're talking to a guy at your child's PTA meeting. Somewhere in the conversation, he asked you what you do. Here is one example:
"Bill, you know how families are concerned about saving for college and retirement but are also concerned about meeting current obligations? Well, what I do is I help these families put plans in place that provide for their security both today and in the future"
There is some additional language that goes with that for asking for a short visit to discuss their situation depending on the setting and their initial receptiveness.
Take a look at www.markmagnacca.com for some pretty good information on fine-tuning this approach.
Now, back to the comedy:
A horse walks into a bar. The bartender says "Hey pal, why the long face?...
Original poster, you understand an elevator speech is something that you can say in 15-20 seconds that ideally tells the person you're talking to what you do and who you do it for.
It can't be too "cute", like:
"I protect your tomorrows"
"I turn dreams into reality"
"I sell dollars for pennies" (or the other million variations of this)
You get the idea. All of those approaches had their day, but maybe aren't great for now. Neither can you say "I sell life insurance" or similar if you actually want to engage the prospect in a dialogue. On the other hand, that line works great if you want to quickly end the conversation.
The EV needs to address who you're talking to, so for example, say you're talking to a guy at your child's PTA meeting. Somewhere in the conversation, he asked you what you do. Here is one example:
"Bill, you know how families are concerned about saving for college and retirement but are also concerned about meeting current obligations? Well, what I do is I help these families put plans in place that provide for their security both today and in the future"
There is some additional language that goes with that for asking for a short visit to discuss their situation depending on the setting and their initial receptiveness.
Take a look at www.markmagnacca.com for some pretty good information on fine-tuning this approach.
Now, back to the comedy:
A horse walks into a bar. The bartender says "Hey pal, why the long face?...
Last edited:
Larry, it would seem that your statement is just a longer version of the three things you advise not to say.
And, why can't someone just be up front and say I sell insurance..etc.
When a mechanic introduces himself, he doesn't say, "I make it possible for people to get safely from place to place while using the streets and highways". He says, "I am an auto mechanic. My garage is on 5th street. If I can help you let me know."
Now about that horse????
Last edited:
When an auto mechanic tells you he fixes cars, people don't grab their air sickness bags like some do when life insurance is mentioned. Now it would be a different story if you were talking to a guy whose dad died when he was a kid where life insurance allowed his family to keep the house, stay in the same neighborhood, and paid for his college.
The other difference is that auto repair is pretty much a commodity, and no one wants or needs it unless something's broken or needs maintenance.
If you say "I sell insurance" you may have informed the person what you do but where do you go from there other than to say "if you ever need any, here's my card"?
As someone used to say around here, YMMV.
I normally say, "I would like the opportunity to sit down and talk with you some time. " Most of the time they will reply they don't need any, have enough, can't afford anything else and i will reply to what they say. We are now having a conversation and a fair amount of time, it will result in an appointment.
- 781
Funny I worked in NYC for 10 years, never once did I see anyone throw out their pitch on an elevator.
Floor 13 please ha ha
Floor 13 please ha ha
It's considered impolite to talk in an elevator, let alone give a speech. If you want to make money in an elevator, learn to pick pockets.
If I say "I sell life insurance" the usual response is "oh, I have enough!" which is fine, and what I expect from them.
My follow-up is "that's great, I'm glad to hear it. One of the things I do for clients is to spend a few minutes looking at what plans are in place and make sure that everything is up-to-date. Is there a time in the next week or two that we could sit down over a cup of coffee and I could review your plans?"
That usually works fairly well. I'll even tell them it's NOT a sales call, just a service I provide. Keep in mind that the average person who has life insurance has something along the lines $150,000 of coverage, and if you actually do some basic fact-finding it's easy to uncover additional needs.
My follow-up is "that's great, I'm glad to hear it. One of the things I do for clients is to spend a few minutes looking at what plans are in place and make sure that everything is up-to-date. Is there a time in the next week or two that we could sit down over a cup of coffee and I could review your plans?"
That usually works fairly well. I'll even tell them it's NOT a sales call, just a service I provide. Keep in mind that the average person who has life insurance has something along the lines $150,000 of coverage, and if you actually do some basic fact-finding it's easy to uncover additional needs.
