Don't forget your verbal business card

Heidi Miller, the empress of shameless self-promotion, calls it your "two-second statement".

Carl Wellenstein, a successful career-transitions coach I met at an NSA/GLAC meeting (and ran into again last weekend at the Summer Symposium), called it a "verbal business card"—right before he called me on not having mine at the ready.

And he was right. (I knew he had to be, since it annoyed me so much.) As an entrepreneur, probably the simplest, most important self-promotional tool you have in your toolbox is not that sexy 2" x 3 1/2" piece of card stock you (or you and your graphic designer) slaved over, but its aural equivalent: a short, sweet statement that (a) sums up what you do and (b) leaves them wanting more.

There are lots of advantages the verbal business card has over its printed counterpart. In addition to being less expensive to produce, it's infinitely mutable, eminently portable and starts conversations rather than ends them.

Think about it: 99% of the time, you're handing over a business card after you're well into a chat; a verbal business card can actually help you kick-start one, and a mighty interesting one, at that. Seriously, what do you think is more likely to pique someone's interest when the dreaded "so what do you do?" comes up: "I'm a career coach" or "I help people make their dreams come true"?

That's a critical component of the successful VBC: focusing on the end benefit of your product or service rather than the product or service itself. It's more engaging to whomever you're talking to, and more energizing for you. I know I get much more excited about my work when I think of myself as someone who "translates people's dreams into words and pictures" than I do when I brand myself as a "graphic designer" or a "marketing expert". In fact, I nodded off a bit even as I was typing them.

And as a big, fat introvert, I know how intrigued (and grateful) I am when someone makes it easy to "conversate", as the kids say. A provocative (within reason) statement like "I help people fall in love again" (a travel agent) or "I get paid to sound like I know what I'm talking about" (Heidi Miller, who is a trade show presenter).

So what do you do? And more importantly, how are you going to start a conversation about it? If you haven't already, now is as good a time as any to start thinking about it.

And if you're already starting conversations, by all means, let us know how you're doing it in the comments section...

Comments

[Ilise Benun]

Yes, Colleen, and have you noticed how people answer the question "what do you do?" as if they were asked, "what are you?" In other words, with a label?

It's more interesting (and engaging for the other person) if you say what you actually do and for whom. So, for example, I say, "I help people who hate to promote themselves get more clients (and maybe hate it a bit less)."

That always triggers a few good questions that allow me to elaborate.

[Nigel Gordijk]

"Verbal business card" - hadn't heard it called that before! Unlike its printed cousin, a verbal card is also much harder to lose. After a networking event, the only business cards I keep belong to people who made a memorable impression.

I'm in the process of moving from England to Canada, so I've found that I have to start marketing my business all over again. Following advice from my Canuck friends and family to "milk that accent for all it's worth", my new business card shows my name followed by "Web design with a different accent". Now people are starting to remember me as "that Web guy who talks funny".

[Colleen Wainwright]

>>and have you noticed how people answer the question "what do you do?" as if they were asked, "what are you?" In other words, with a label?

Absolutely. Verbs are infinitely more interesting and provocative. The conversational equivalent of the "yes, and..." that improv actors use as gospel.

Nigel - I hadn't heard it before Carl told me, either, but boy, did it stick! And not that having an English accent is ever a liability (well, Stateside, anyway), way to turn it into both a point of difference and an asset!