Before heading out to conquer the networking world, it’s important to have an effective infomercial, otherwise known as your attorney elevator pitch. An infomercial is your 30 – 60 second self-description, designed to help contacts understand your value. If you’d like help crafting a personalized pitch that is ideal for you, call me at (847) 602-6911.
As in many areas of career development, “winging it” is not the best plan. Follow my tips below to make your attorney elevator pitch, and be sure to have a few different versions of your infomercial ready, as some situations may call for a longer, shorter, or altered version.
1. Include a statement of who you are and what you do.
The key here is to keep it simple; for example, “I’m an attorney focusing my practice on intellectual property, and I help people protect their trade names and patents.” Or keep it vague; for example, “I’m an intellectual property attorney helping people to protect their valuable ideas.”
2. Describe your prospect’s pain points.
Instead of listing a bunch of features and benefits of your services, think of the pains that people may have that your services can alleviate. This is really important to include in your attorney elevator pitch for a number of reasons. First, it allows you to stop bragging about yourself or your firm. Second, it’s different than the typical “pitch” we’ve all heard before. Third, the concept of cutting straight to the negative or discussing problems people are having in their business gets people’s attention. Try to use emotional words that capture the essence of the problem, issue, or frustration that people may have that you’re able to help ease. A NyQuil ad is a great example of using pain points to sell the product as the solution.
An example of a pain statement for an IP attorney is, “We typically help people who are unaware that their business name is at risk. What if you had to rebuild your respected brand all over again?” If you’re speaking to someone to whom that scenario applies, they just might be interested in speaking with you further.
3. Share your differentiator.
Create a “differentiator” for yourself or your practice. With the bombardment of media messages lobbed at us on a daily basis, it’s more important than ever before to stand out from the crowd. Including in your attorney elevator pitch an explanation as to how you or your firm is unique will help you attract the attention of potential clients and strategic partners. Ask yourself two questions to test whether your differentiator is effective. The first question is whether your message is different from any others you’ve heard, and the second question is whether this message is compelling enough to make someone really care about it.
4. Make it easy for the group or individual to take the next step.
Be prepared with a statement that will help your target take the next step, such as, “If you’re interested in hearing more about intellectual property practice and how my firm helps to protect our clients’ interests, please see me after the meeting or visit my website at www.thecoolestIPguy.com.” If you’re speaking to an individual at an event, you might take more initiative and suggest a next step yourself by proposing a coffee meeting in the next couple of weeks to discuss a potential collaboration. Such a call to action is most natural at the end of a conversation.
These four steps virtually guarantee you have an effective message about the ways in which you help people and what makes you unique in the marketplace. You’ll also become more memorable because you’re forgoing the typical lawyer “feature and benefit” message, which is lazy, not to mention boring. Call me today at (847) 602-6911 for help designing the best pitch for you.