Defining and Branding
By Amy Remmele

We hear so much about 30-second elevator speeches and infomercials. But do we think about what these “dialogues” do to others? Imagine what the other person is thinking when they are forced to listen to a “rap” about you that they have not asked for! Do they really hear what you are saying? Or are they just wishing they could run away from you? Remember what it is like to sit and listen to every single person in a room introduce themselves. And then, remember the ones who start talking and will not stop. They insist on telling us everything that they can about themselves. And if there is not a good leader in the room, there is no stopping them. I taught a class once for a Women’s Center and the leader allowed anyone and everyone to ramble on for as long as they wished about themselves. I could tell that each of them found themselves fascinating. The rest of the room, however, wanted to crawl under the tables. If this is how you want your perspective customers / clients to feel, then you are all set and you need not read on. If you would like to be listened to and understood though, I have some advice that you may be interested in.

 When you have the opportunity to talk about yourself, keep it very short. In fact, state your name and your business and then just one sentence about what you do. I know this advice makes you anxious. You ask yourself, “What if the person doesn’t understand what I do, What if I miss something and What if I don’t get to talk again?” These are all valid questions. But none of this matters if you bore the prospects so much that they want to avoid you more than the plague. The problem is that you are thinking about selling your product or service, when all you should be trying to do is to sell another couple of minutes. You cannot sell yourself or your product in an elevator. All you can do is get the person to pause for a few moments. The problem is that everyone is out there trying to get their message across, but they are not realizing that they are giving the wrong message. They are saying, “Buy my product (service)” when they should be saying, “Stay and ask me a couple of questions.”

 Which brings us to what that one sentence should look like. All it needs to do is tell what you do and who you do it for. So, this one sentence we are discussing talks about outcomes. Stop thinking about what you want to say and instead think about what others need to hear. They want to know if they should listen to you. You should only want to talk to people who are actually in your market. When you are not clear about what you do and who you do it for, you waste a great deal of time talking to the wrong people. On the other hand, if your Defining Statement is right on, you will only stay and talk to the people who should be listening to you.

 A Defining Statement is short and to the point. The purposes of having a defining statement are many. First, so that you understand fully who you are and what you do. These “stopping moments” in our lives, used for asking ourselves important questions are crucial to progress and success. Also, other people will really understand what you do when your defining statement is “right on.” Your messages will be consistent and you will be able to describe what you do without other people getting bored when you tell them what you do. We want people to turn toward us, not away from us.

The principle is to describe you in terms of a concept rather than a title. Here goes. First, think of the outcomes that your customers or clients experience. Think in terms of “what they get,” not features and benefits. If you were a sports car, you would not tell people, “I am a vehicle with four tires and a steering wheel. I get good gas mileage and I will get you from point A to point B.” No, you would say, “I am a really cool ride. You will feel young and attractive when you take me for a spin. I get you where you are going in style and I do it fast.” Experiences! I can call myself a counselor by title. Or I can think of what the experience is to my clients, such as jumping life’s hurdles or sliding downhill to goals as opposed to rock climbing to them.

When you are done with the outcomes, you need to think about who you work with. Is it individuals or businesses? Is it just women? Is it just hairdressers? Is it only those who have a lot of money? Be careful with this because your target market is your ideal client. You want to say something that speaks directly to them. In the above example, the sports car works with cool men who want a ride that attracts attention. Okay, relax! I know that women buy sports cars too, but let’s face it; most of the customers will be men. Speak to the majority of your market. Many times I hear from people when we are designing their defining statement that they don’t want to exclude potential customers. It is better to risk excluding a few than to risk sounding boring or just like everyone else. If you try to work with everybody, you will work with nobody. When you say, “I work with everyone,” the listener will tune you out because it is too broad and they will not hear anything that “tweaks” them. Risk leaving something on the table so that you make sure you go after your market. If cool men are your primary target, then say so! Now you might say that these men are not really all that cool, but the ones who believe that they are cool will be the ones who listen when you say that you work with “cool” men.

So, now you have what you do and who you do it for. Make a sentence out of those two. I work with “blank” who want “blank.” The language must be simple, conversational and easy to remember. It must attract people and be customer / client focused. Think about what they want. And finally it must be REPEATABLE.

 Remember that the real function of the defining statement is to get people to stop and listen and ask YOU Questions about YOUR business. Imagine that you are standing in a yard, separated from your prospect by a high wooden fence. Your product is at your feet. Your defining statement should get that person to come and have a peek. Then you start “selling.” The Defining Statement just gets the ball rolling. If it is too broad, the wrong people look over the fence. If it is too long, the people go away. When it “speaks” to the right target market, they come and have a look and want to talk more.

 I always recommend a retreat to create a Defining Statement. Once you have learned the rules and begun the process with a professional, take a day or a weekend and go away with yourself. Get to know yourself really really well and contemplate your “profession” or career really well. You will begin to know one of the true benefits of creating a defining statement, to become intimate with what you produce. What do you really do? Why do you do it? How do you do it? These are all very important questions. This process will change you forever. It will change how you interact with others and with yourself. There is nothing quite as powerful as getting to know yourself. I take a retreat each year to re-do my Defining Statements. It is refreshing and replenishing and it sets me out on the right path.

Here are some examples to help you get started. “I work with individuals who want to start a business and small business owners who want to grow their business.” “I work with counselors who want to become better business managers and who want to increase the number of clients they see.” “I work with individuals and businesses who are serious about removing the obstacles in their life and who want to reach their goals.” “I work with women who want to wake up in the morning and see the room they dreamt about last night.”

 For those of you who want to create a Defining Statement, I work with individual women who want to stand up to others and professional women who want to stand out from others and I am doing a three-hour seminar on June 14, 2012 at the Airport Holiday Inn on Genesee. You will learn all of the rules and processes for this life-changing adventure. Call 716-864-4475 or click here to register online!

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