What’s Your Point?

Whether you are trying to recruit an employee, or a member to your association, you likely have a lot to say in a short amount of time. You need to have a relevant “elevator pitch” that does not sound canned, or like you are reading a brochure. And, it needs to be consistent across various methods; whether it is online, or whether you are speaking to someone by phone, face-to-face, etc.

Whether you are trying to recruit an employee, or a member to your association, you likely have a lot to say in a short amount of time. You need to have a relevant “elevator pitch” that does not sound canned, or like you are reading a brochure. And, it needs to be consistent across various methods; whether it is online, or whether you are speaking to someone by phone, face-to-face, etc.

To start, I freely admit that I consider myself borderline Gen X/Gen Y. This is based on a variety of opinions on the cut-off year and how I find my preferences align with general assumptions based on the generational definitions. When I am researching an organization, what I find on the About Us section of the website are the things organizations have become accustomed to repeating across the board. To be successful these days, you need to be strategic about the message you are putting out there (and that means providing different, relevant information each time).

Here are two areas to pay attention to:

YOUR ASSOCIATION OR COMPANY WEBSITE

Websites that have an About Us page that starts with “ABC opened its doors in 1913…” or some far off year where I cannot even imagine what the world was like tend to bore me, and I will not take the time to read through all of the clutter to get at the meat of the information I require to make an educated decision.

I don’t care if you have been around for 100 years – I want to know why you are relevant today. However, that doesn’t mean that others don’t or shouldn’t care; they may be looking for an organization that is historically significant in changing the industry. In this case, I recommend re-evaluating the way you are positioning your website, and segment the information into categories. For example, your About Us page may say that you are an industry leader in ABC profession, which has consistently provided value to employees/members by… adding point form so that it is easy to read. Your history can then be made accessible by hyper-linking to another page on your site (for example, “To read more about our history, click here).

YOUR IN-PERSON INTERACTION

Prospects determine how much time they spend on your website–and the time per page can be anywhere between 15 seconds to 10 minutes, depending on the information you provide and how it captures their interest. However, you have about 20 seconds maximum by phone or in person to generate interest. And, I have found that what we are putting out there has been regurgitated based on information gleaned from the website, which tends to be used across other training material. And, if you are using the same pitch by phone or in person, what happens? Your audience (your prospect) tunes out, and quickly.

Before jumping in with your go-to reasons for why you are experts or thought-leaders in your industry that your prospect should be involved with (either through membership, or employment), start by asking a question. Have you ever asked them why they are looking into your company for employment? Why they have attended this event as a non-member? Why they downloaded your whitepaper on that topic? Getting their answer can help you determine which items in your value proposition and benefits would appeal to them, and make them want to learn more.

What’s the best way to capture (and keep) your audiences attention? Engage them with information that interests them. It doesn’t have to be too time-consuming; well planned marketing and communication plans combined with appropriate automation rules should take you most of the way through the process.