Every Christmas Eve, a burglar named Santa busts into homes around the world, but he has never been charged with B&E. He has one of the best, most positive brands around and it continues to inoculate him against any hint of impropriety, as it has for generations.

Why does Santa’s brand remain so strong? Because Santa is:

• Consistent

• Unique

• Customer-focused

• Viral

Let’s examine these to see what lessons we can learn.

First off, Santa has a positioning statement and has used it to stay true to his mission for decades.

It is this consistency that has helped him build a brand franchise that is the envy of other marketers. No matter what kind of communication vehicle he uses, the message is measured against the positioning statement.

Fed-Ex and UPS also deliver packages, but they don’t do it in the middle of the night in a sleigh drawn by eight tiny reindeer. Santa has cornered the market on uniqueness.

He has not strayed from the market he identified in his positioning statement. His target is not every carbon-based life form. He focuses on kids. End of story. Talk about customer intimacy. Santa has perfected data mining.

Who else knows if you:

• are sleeping or awake

• want a Barbie or a baseball bat

• have been naughty or nice

Santa invented viral marketing. As his customers get older and become parents, they market to the emerging group of customers for him. They know that if they deliver Santa’s message, they will benefit from their children’s good behavior.

And it’s not just the parents. Other marketers help him, too. Santa has never spent a dime on advertising. He has used good public relations tactics to develop, manage and maintain solid relationships with marketers who advertise for him. Consider the Coca-Cola ads featuring Mr. Claus. Think of all the newspaper inserts that carry his picture during the holidays. Then, there are all those helpers in department stores everywhere.

Because of his adherence to simple marketing tactics, everyone loves Santa. Not bad for an old burglar with a reindeer fetish.

Harry Hoover has 26 years of experience in crafting and delivering bottom line messages that ensure success for serious businesses. Sign up for his free monthly newsletter at http://www.hoover-ink.com.

This is the second part of creating your own business card. If you missed the first one, let me know: mailto:webmistress@janes-place.com

Click in the box, where you want your text to appear.Type in your text. Make sure the text is where you want it. For example, in my card the bottom text wasn’t under my logo. To put it under the logo, I highlighted the text I wanted under the logo and clicked on the left button on the tool bar.

You can change the font, by going to the ‘Format Menu’ and choosing ‘Font’. Choose your Font size and the type of Font you want. Click ‘ok’. NOTE: Be sure you choose a Font that is easily read. If you don’t, you may as well not have a business card.

NOTE: If you create your card and don’t like the way it looks, you can undo the changes, by going to the ‘Edit Menu’ and choose ‘Undo’. You can also highlight the area you want to do over and undo it the same way.

If you create your Business Card with a URL or Email, be sure to turn off the hyperlink like we did for our Letterhead.

You can print the Business Cards your self or have them printed professionally. For best results, they should be printed on 250 gsm or thicker paper. Most printers can only handle 160 gsm, therefore you might want to go the professional printer route. If you are operating on a small budget, like most small businesses, print them yourself. That way the cost will just be for the ink and paper.

If you choose to have them printed professionally, you will need to copy it to a floppy disk. To do this, go to ’start’ — ‘programs’ –’Windows Explorer’ . Click on the + next to ‘My Documents’. Choose the folder your Business card is in and double-click on it. On the right side of the screen, you will see the file, ‘Business Card’. Right-click on it and choose ‘Send To’ — 3 1/2 Floppy A’. It will then be copied to your Floppy Disk. Take this disk to the professional printing place and they will do the rest.

If you choose to print them yourself, you will need to create more than one card and buy the paper to print them on [at least 160 gsm].

To create more than one card, we will copy and paste the original card. Click inside the card area. Go to the ‘Table Menu’ — ‘Select’ — ‘Table’. Go to the ‘Edit Menu’ and choose ‘Copy’. Go to the space directly under the first card and hit enter. Go to the ‘Edit Menu’ and choose ‘Paste Cells’. A copy of your business card will appear. Continue this process until you finish the first row. Word will automatically move to the second row. Continue this process until the page is full. Go to the ‘File Menu’, choose ‘Print’. Under ‘Page Range’, be sure that ‘all’ is selected. Choose the number of copies you want and click ‘ok’.

About The Author

Jane Fulton is Owner & Webmistress of http://janes-place.com ‘Home For Newbies & Beginning Marketers’. She has been helping them for almost 4yrs now. She publishes a newsletter, Newbie & Affiliate SOS Newsletter. It appears online twice a month. If you like these ‘How To’ type of articles, subscribe to her newsletter at: http://janes-place.com/sos.htm

webmistress@janes-place.com

The name of your business is important–it’s one of the first things potential customers know about it. And having unique names for each of your products and services can be a powerful selling tool. One way to make yourself and your business attractive is to have something exclusive and enticing, promising benefits. Good names for your business, products and services can do that. Good names market for you.

Do you have a hard time coming up with names? Perhaps you called your business ABC Enterprises, because you just couldn’t think of anything else. What does that name say about you and what you do? Nothing. Nada. Zip. It doesn’t tell customers why they would want to do business with you, because they have no idea what it is that you do, or who you do it for.

Here’s my favorite way to come up with a name. I call it "Idea Storming." OK, I just did it to you. Marketing with a name, that is. "Idea Storming" is a name I came up with to describe one of my services. Brainstorming has been done to death. Been there, done that, got the t-shirt from the seminar. Idea Storming puts a slight twist on it. You recognize the concept, but it has a different name, and it ties to my Idea Lady identity. Not a spectacular example, but see how it works?

Anyway, I help my clients to Idea Storm, but here’s how you can do it on your own. Get a piece of paper and a pen. Write down every word or phrase you can think of to describe your business. What do you do? Who are your clients? What results do you get for them? What words would your clients use to describe what you do? How would they describe the feeling they got doing business with you? Why is your business better than others?

Once you’ve got a nice, long list, keep going. Get out your thesaurus (or use the one in your word processor) to come up with words with meanings similar to what you wrote down. Scan books and magazine articles for words and phrases that jump off the page at you. Talk to friends and associates, and get them to Idea Storm with you.

Now, take your list and start combining the words and phrases. Take this word and add it to that one. Use this phrase, but substitute that word. Take pieces of two words and make a brand new word.

I’ve used this method to come up with lots of names and titles over the last few years. This is how I created names such as The Idea Lady, Solo-preneuring, and many more.

Another great benefit of Idea Storming is that even the words and phrases you don’t use in your name can be used in a slogan, on your business cards, in sales letters, in brochures and in other marketing materials.

This technique is simple. But it really works.

Copyright Cathy Stucker. As the Idea Lady, Cathy Stucker can help you attract customers and make yourself famous with inexpensive and free marketing ideas. Get free tips, articles and more at http://www.IdeaLady.com/.

As every professional politician and public relations man knows words have the power to entice, persuade and motivate people into a specific course of action.

There are certain words that I refer to as "Power Words" that I learned, back in the dawn of time, when the dinosaurs still roamed the earth.

For example, if I say to my daughter "clean up your room please" I get a totally different reaction than when I say "clean up your room NOW", even if both phrases are spoken in the same tone. When I use the word now, I know that she will clean up the mess, and that I have at least a 50-50 chance that she will do an adequate job.

My first exposure to this "Power" was at the hands of one of my mentors, now long-since dead, sad to say, who told me a story.

It seems that a trucker pulled into a roadside cafe in Amarillo, Texas and said to the waitress " There must be a million rabbits out there. I swear I’ve just squashed a dozen."

Compare the reaction when the story goes: It seems a trucker pulled into a roadside cafe in Amarillo, Texas and said to the waitress " I’ve just run over a bunny"

In both cases a small change in wording provokes a different reaction.

That’s the "Power"of words !!

When used in your advertising material, such words can be almost irresistible. Here are 9 "Power Words" for you to try out.

1…Secret (or little-known) used either alone or together (little-known secrets) are both "Power Words" that appeal to the curiosity of the reader. "What does he know that I don’t" Few people blame their lack of success on their own efforts (or lack of effort), so they are comforted by the thought that they are failing because they have been denied vital information.

2…System appeals to the desire for simplicity and lack of real effort required. If someone already has a system in place, "all I have to do is put my name on it and plug it in !!"

3…New (or Improved) appeals to the sense of urgency. If something is NEW then you have to get it fast before everyone else does to maintain your competitive edge. Strangely a laundry product has advertised for many years that it was "New and Improved". It’s difficult to see how it could be both, at the same time, but it shows the power that both these words have that the advertiser decided to use them together, as re-inforcement for each other.

4…Power is itself a "Power Word" suggesting that if only the reader had the knowledge that you have, he/she would be able to accomplish anything.

5…Magic is almost interchangeable with power, but it also suggests that an objective can be reached without effort. This appeals to both the lazy (like me) and the impetuous who want to attain their goal immediately.There is a natural tendency to assume that any one who makes his living in Advertising and Promotion must know something that is hidden from the rest of the world. Some arcane formula like "ABRACA- DABRA" or "Open Sesame" that magically transforms them into "gurus" or "prophets", that we must slavishly follow.

6…Immediate, of course suggests that something can be done instantly. This again appeals to the sense of urgency, and has a magic-like ring to it. Why wait - have it NOW !!

7…Insider suggests that the writer has information that cannot be known to the world at large, therefore if you will only pay for this you can attain an edge on the rest of the competition.

8…FREE (note: this often appears as FR~E in ads because of the ISP filters that seem to abound today)this word included in any headline will increase acceptance of your message - but make sure that when you say FR~E that you mean FR~E. If you attempt to charge for something that you have advertised as FR~E, you will lose all credibility.

9…YOU The reader is only interested in the potential benefit that he/she will receive from your product. The old advertising maxim is still valid "Sell the sizzle not the steak". Look carefully at your product and think of all the reasons that I, or anyone else would benefit by owning it.

For example, if you were selling big, gas-guzzling cars, you would stress the comfort, luxury interiors, prestige, reliability and smooth riding capacity of the car.

If you were selling those cars that are so small the driver has to sit with his/her knees against their chin you would stress the fuel economy, zippy sporty ride, cornering and road handling ability of the car, affordable price and ease of parking.

At the end of each sales page, or large ad you should also stress your "guarantee"(oops - another "Power Word - I should have titled this piece 10 Power Words. - Ah well !). You will be accepting payment for your product exclusively through credit cards, and the vendors will reverse any credit to your account, if the customer complains.

It is far better to make a positive "Money Back ( Another Power Word - that makes 11. So sue me, I can’t count !!)Guarantee" than to have a negative " I’ll give you your money back if you holler loud enough ". If you’re going to have to do it anyway get some extra (that makes 12) mileage out of the situation.

I’m sorry that this article ran a little long, but you can consider the last 3 "Power Words" as a bonus (Oh no !! That’s 13), make it an added (we can’t end on 13 - that’s unlucky - make it 14) bonus.

In closing, read as many of the ads that you see on-line as you can. You’ll see how experienced marketers use these powerful words to motivate their readers, and perhaps pick up some ideas, that I didn’t include.

All the best in your marketing efforts

Martin Cargill

************************************************************

Martin Cargill gives a FREE mini-course on

Internet Marketing at his website

www.millionsbynet.com

This and his newsletter " Independence Day Ezine " are

available FREE on an opt-in basis only.

************************************************************

About The Author

After over 40 years in Direct Marketing, I am trying to come to terms with that "new-fangled" internet. It’s a steep learning curve, but I’m getting there. I can offer you the chance to learn from my experience (and mistakes), and the best of the web guest articles and web resources.

capnblack_ca@shaw.ca

The strongest and longest lasting brands branch off of an existing category. Branching takes patience and time. There are two speeds for launching a brand, each one with its own pros and cons.

Speed A, like a hot air balloon, takes a long time to prepare before the actual launch. PR, media marketing, favors A. Longevity success favors A. A tree grows stronger with a well-established roots. And this can only occur with good soil, careful fertilizing, watering, and time.

Speed B, like a helicopter, takes off quickly but requires more fuel on take off, fuel that isn’t there later on. Advertising favors B. Speed B for the Internet means viral marketing–spreading by word of mouth. For the Net, this is usually e-mail marketing.

The main reason A is usually a wiser choice is because people are suspicious of new and different. Another reason why it takes any business years to build their success. A typical reaction: "Wait and see if this new concept turns out to be worth while". Letting the brand build slowly using PR techniques can be like watching a tree grow. You can be lulled into falling asleep, however, don’t be. There is a pivoting point where PR needs to turn into massive advertising.

There are two hurdles each speed endures–credibility and conventional. Advertising fails because it usually can’t convey credibility. It can create conventional–people want to buy what other people want. People buy to be normal. People like to visit restaurants that have lots of cars out front. Yet conventional cannot succeed without credibility. Credibility is why the most effective brand launching starts with PR. The only exception to this rule is selling to the early adopter market.

Real success is a combination of short-lived and longevity products and services. Short-lived can provide the additional capital needed to fuel big advertising campaigns or new research. If you look at the toy industry, you can see every Christmas they have short-lived fad items and they still maintain items, like the Slinky, now celebrating over 50 years.

Service businesses need to use a combination as well. Few in these areas understand the concept and usually brush it off as N/A, non-applicable, to them. Mainly due to the need for multiple marketing campaigns and the work needed to plan and implement. This holds a higher truth the smaller the practice usually due to time limitations.

Another gear in the branding wheel is the number of generations of buyers. Each generation have their own way of buying charactertics. The only answer for this, is to know how they are thinking and why they make the choices they do.

How do you move fast enough in a slow building process and still build credibility along the way? You can use the same method many public relations firms use–the leak. You leak the information before its ready for launching. The gestation length of the leaking period depends on the radicalness of the concept. The more revolutionary the concept, the less advertising should play into the campaign.

Advertising is used for brand maintenance not brand building. As I mentioned earlier, advertising lacks credibility, the crucial element for brand building.

The best way for PR use is to announce a new category not a new product. The media wants to talk about what’s new and what’s hot, not what’s better. What they say about you delivers credibility. It’s because someone else is talking about you.

Launching a PR campaign and an Advertising campaign are two totally different plans. This is a frequently misunderstood concept.

For the accompaning article, Seven Simple Steps To A PR Launch, visit the Abundance Center’s article section.

(c) 2004, Catherine Franz

Catherine Franz, a Certified Professional Marketing & Writing Coach, specializes in product development, Internet writing and marketing, nonfiction, training. Newsletters and articles available at: http://www.abundancecenter.com blog: http://abundance.blogs.com

From my experience, I’ve been on many discussion groups and have spoken to many other like minded people. The one topic that always seems to arise is how to get massive sales right away.

Not only massive sales but quick sales. Well let me clear something up for you. Creating MASSIVE sales takes much dedication, persistence and especially patience. Not to mention planning & money!

See the unfortunate part is that people give up. Not only do they give up but they usually give up right before they succeed. I have a friend who’s tried 4 times to start a roofing business and keep it going. I asked him, what kind of marketing plan did you have?

He said "well none actually, I was trying to rely on word of mouth advertising to get me started and a few ads here and there".

Now, don’t get me wrong, if you can get a fantastic "word or mouth" campaign going then you won’t have any problems. See the problem wasn’t that my friend couldn’t do the work but that his "sphere of influence" was very small. Hence he was having problems getting word of mouth working for him!

So I suggested to him that he place a very small ad in the newspaper around the surrounding area. It turned out that he had already tried an ad in the paper but, he had placed a one time ad almost the size of the whole newspaper and hardly got any business out of it. Which never mind cost him a fortune.

I explained to him that persistence is the key, yes a lot of people will see the ad, but as soon as they are done reading it, they will forget it ever existed. So I said to him, grab a small 15-20 word ad and put it there for the rest of the year!

So moving on a little, his ad started off small but then grew more and more profitable! See it takes about 21 times for your visitors to see your ad until you make a sale.

21 times Martin???

Yes about that… we are so saturated with ads it has to be imprinted in our minds before we can even remember just one specific one. So the reason for having my friend put out a small ad instead of one massive full page ad was to allow his potential clients to get used to the fact that he wasn’t going anywhere and his business seemed legitimate and profitable.

It’s all about getting into your prospects sub-conscious and staying there until they are ready to buy!

So just remember when you’re trying to decide between a one time shot that might cover coast to coast or a smaller ad that will cover coast to coast 12 months a year, always stay with persistant advertising!

About The Author

Martin R. Lemieux

owner

Smartads Information Centre

Canadian Entrepreneur Advertising Resource & Research!

http://www.smartads.info

Read over 200 articles on advertising!

WANT TO REPRINT THIS ARTICLE ?

You may use this article on your site as is but you MUST send me a note support@smartads.info. Thank You!

One of the ways people get to know you is by the identity you project. Your company name, the way you present yourself, your business card and brochure, where you work, and other ways you conduct your business create an image that gives your customers information about you.

Pricing is a part of your image, too. Many entrepreneurs make the mistake of underpricing. They believe that the only way to attract customers is to have the lowest possible price. But this attitude can damage your business.

First of all, when you underprice you won’t be adequately compensated for your time. You must be able to make enough money to pay your bills and grow your business, or you won’t be in business very long.

Ironically, underpricing can actually result in getting fewer customers, not more. Think about this from the customer’s perspective. Let’s say you are looking for someone to do a job for you. You contact five companies, and get prices of $4000, $2700, $2500, $2400, and $1000. Which one would you select?

Assuming that the quotes are all based on the same specifications, most people would immediately eliminate the $4000 quote as being way out of line; however, they would also be suspicious of the $1000 quote. Why is it so much less than the others? Do they use substandard materials? Are their workers less skilled? Will they do a poor job–if they do the job at all?

Price isn’t the only factor people consider when making a purchase. You might choose the $2700 quote because you decide the price is reasonable, and someone from the company called you back quickly. You get a good feeling from their responsiveness, and decide they may be worth a few dollars more than the lowest bidder.

Some markets are more price sensitive than others, and there is probably a price point you can’t exceed for your product or service. But coming in far below the "going rate" can be just as harmful to your business as overpricing.

Copyright Cathy Stucker. As the Idea Lady, Cathy Stucker can help you attract customers and make yourself famous with inexpensive and free marketing ideas. Get free tips, articles and more at http://www.IdeaLady.com/.

Push vs. Pull Advertising - Understand the Consequences for your Product or Service

You will save yourself a considerable amount of time and money if you first determine your product’s (or service’s) suitability for "pull" and "push" advertising.

Pull advertising is geared to draw visitors to your website when they are actively seeking your product or service. Prime examples of pull advertising are search engine optimization, cost per click search engines, directory listings, yellow page ads, and shopping portals such as mySimon and DealTime.

Push advertising refers to all efforts to get the word out to an entire group of potential customers in order to hit the few that many be currently interested in your product or service. Most traditional offline advertising efforts (magazine, billboard, newspaper, tv, classifieds, etc) as well as online banners ads and email broadcasts are considered push marketing.

Understanding which approach is best suited for your product should become the cornerstone of your advertising strategy.

Take as an example the results of our wine accessories company (not wine, but accessories like corkscrews and wine glasses). Each of our push advertising efforts failed. We have tried ads in targeted magazine, opt-in email campaigns, banner campaigns at wine industry websites, ads in gourmet website newsletters, you name it. We have yet to receive a response (measured in customer orders) to justify the cost.

It all comes down to the fact that as much as we would like to think so, people don’t really need $50 Austrian crystal wine glasses. There are simply too many product and vendor substitutes to command the purchase of even avid wine drinkers.

Pull advertising, on the other hand, has been extremely effective at acquiring profitable traffic. When someone does a search online for terms such as “wine decanters” we have found that these people are ready and willing to spend money the very first time they visit our site.

If you are fortunate enough to sell a product or service that falls into the ‘need’ or ‘unique’ category you may be able to take advantage of all of the push and pull media outlets available to your industry. Your job will be to simply find which advertising channels offer you the best return on investment.

Be realistic and objective about your product. In order for small company push marketing to be effective you must be selling either a universally desired or a truly unique product.

Is your product or service so desired or unique that by simply introducing it to your audience you will be able to acquire a sale? If not, you should work to maximize your exposure in every single pull advertising vehicle. You may grow a little slower than you would prefer, but slow profitable growth is always better than going out of business while waiting for an ad campaign to pay off.

–

Please feel free to publish this article and resource box in your ezine, newsletter, offline publication or website. A copy would be appreciated at mailto: info@lessonsfromthefront.com.

About The Author

Henry Coleman is an experienced entrepreneur and the primary author of Lessons From The Front - A Practical Guide to Starting & Growing Your Internet Business. Visit http://lessonsfromthefront.com to get an inside look at how you can build a real business from the ground up.

info@lessonsfromthefront.com

Do you want to attract new customers while building greater loyalty among your current customers? Include your customers in your marketing and promotions. By creating greater awareness of your customers (and their businesses) you may help to build their businesses and increase their demand for your products and services. Whether or not using customers in your marketing causes them to buy more from you, your willingness to showcase them will cause them to feel more attachment to you and will encourage them to remain customers for a long time to come. Here are a few ways you can make this work for you.

Ask your customers to share their success stories and get their permission to use them. How have they benefitted from their association with you? Have them share their stories on audio or video or in print and use them in your marketing. In their ads, Sterling Bank in Houston has their small business customers tell how they grew their businesses with the help of their Sterling bankers. It sends a great message about the bank, and increases awareness of the featured businesses.

Tell your customers’ stories in your newsletter. If you publish a print or online newsletter, include profiles of your customers and tell how you worked with them to help them succeed. Or, use the stories in your print ads. A photo of a happy customer accompanied by the story of what you did for them is very persuasive.

Audio and video recordings of customer stories can be incorporated into your television and radio advertising. Hearing customers in their own words is a powerful way to communicate the benefits of doing business with you, and your customers will appreciate the visibility they get when they are featured in your ads. You can also use streaming audio and video files at your web site.

Feature links to your customers’ web sites from yours. It doesn’t cost anything to add a few links, and customers will appreciate the extra visibility. It may also help improve the search engine rankings, not only for your customers’ web sites, but for yours as well.

Make connections between customers. Do you have customers who could benefit from knowing other customers? Perhaps you could make referrals to bring them together. Or, host a networking event where they can get to know each other.

Include customers in your publicity. The media like to have multiple sources for stories, perhaps to back up what you are saying or to provide another point of view. In one case, I was able to get a client included in a story and she was able to get one of her clients into the story, too! Your clients will not only appreciate that you got them publicity, they will be impressed with your media "pull."

Promoting your customers as well as yourself is a great win-win for your business. Look for opportunities to create a greater bond between yourself and your customers by including them in your marketing and promotions.

Copyright Cathy Stucker. As the Idea Lady, Cathy Stucker can help you attract customers and make yourself famous with inexpensive and free marketing ideas. Get free marketing tips, articles and more at http://www.IdeaLady.com/.

So, what’s an elevator speech, and how do you get one?

What Is It?

An elevator speech is a short (15-30 second, 150 word) sound bite that succinctly and memorably introduces you. It spotlights your uniqueness. It focuses on the benefits you provide. And it is delivered effortlessly.

Elevator speeches are intended to prepare you for very brief, chance encounters in an elevator. But elevator speeches are not just for elevators! You should use it whenever you want to introduce yourself to a new contact. That could be in the supermarket, waiting in line at an ATM or when you get your morning latte.

So, who better than you to describe with passion, precision and persuasiveness what you do? A great elevator speech makes a lasting first impression, showcases your professionalism and allows you to position yourself.

And if you want to network successfully, you need an elevator speech!

How to Prepare an Elevator Speech, or What’s My Line?

Now for a short course in preparing your elevator speech, or unique selling proposition.

First, and most important, think in terms of the benefits your clients or customers derive from your services. Trust me, no one is going to be riveted if you say:

“Hi, my name is Stanley Manly, and I’m a public relations executive with twenty years of experience.”

Or:

“Hi, I’m Sally Hopeful, and I’m an executive recruiter.

Two big yawns.

What’s In It for Me?

Do you recall that old radio station, WII-FM: What’s In It For Me?!

If you remember that people are always more interested in how you can help them, you’re on the right track. Keep that top of mind when composing your speech.

Here’s how to improve the two examples mentioned above:

“Hi, my name is Stanley Manly, and I help inventors tell the world about their inventions.”

“Hi, I’m Sally Hopeful. I partner with companies that need to find talented people to help their business growth and become more profitable.”

Now, you’ve got my attention!

Let’s use my elevator speech before and after as an example:

Here’s my before version (and I wondered why people looked at me with a frozen smile!):

“Hi, I’m Dale Kurow, and I’m a career and executive coach. I hold a Master’s Degree in Career Counseling and have been trained by a master level coach. (Who cares!) I’ve been an HR director for a multinational cosmetic company, run a PR agency and taught college-level business courses. (So what!) I believe that coaching can be the catalyst to change your life. (Are you asleep yet?)

See how that was all about me, me, me?

Now for the revised version:

“Hi, I’m Dale Kurow, and I help people become more successful at their work. For example, I’ve helped a client change jobs with a 40% salary increase, I’ve helped a client develop the skills to deal with a difficult boss, and I’ve helped a manager devise new ways to keep her staff motivated.”

Here are a few more examples:

I know an Avon representative who says:

“I help women look beautiful.”

Or a business coach that says:

“I help you get more clients than you know what to do with.”

And here’s my favorite, one that is used by an IRS agent:

“I’m a government fund-raiser.”

Action Steps

So, here’s what you need to do to craft your elevator speech.

First, write down the “deliverables” — the services or features that you provide. Then, think in terms of the benefits that your clients or employer could derive from these services. You could use several successful client outcomes, as I did.

Once you’ve got that written, create an opening sentence that will grab the listener’s attention, as our Avon representative did above. The best openers leave the listener wanting more information. And you do not have to include your title, especially if you think it has a negative connotation (an IRS agent, for example).

Finally, your elevator speech must roll off your tongue with ease. Practice your speech in front of the mirror and with friends. Record it on your answering machine, and listen to it. Do you sound confident? Sincere? Is it engaging? Tweak accordingly. Then, take it on the road.

Dale Kurow, M.S., is an author and a career and executive coach in NYC. Dale works with clients across the U.S. and internationally, helping them to become better managers, figure out their next career moves and thrive despite office politics. Visit Dale’s web site at http://www.dalekurow.com/newsletter to sign-up for her free monthly ezine "Career Essentials," chocked full of useful career tips and strategies you can use immediately.