Is Your Message Loud and Clear?

When you are introducing yourself to an individual, or to a group, you have a choice of how you deliver your message. The primary vehicle for your introduction is your verbal presentation. Does your introduction work? Is it effective?  

People will not only judge the message, they judge the messenger as well. How you look, how you carry yourself, the way you listen, and the way you leave the conversation, will all affect what others do with the message you’ve delivered. The important thing to remember is to speak as if you’re addressing a single person, a good friend. 

As you network with friends and associates and tell them what you do, your underlying hope is that they will use your services and pass the message to others, who will also use your services and in turn keep spreading your message. When someone speaks about your business on your behalf, the same rules apply. They, too, will be judged. That means what you do and say sets the pattern for duplication.  

The Telephone Game

Did you ever play the childhood game called “telephone”? One player whispers a message to the person sitting next to them. That person then whispers the exact same message to the next person, and so on down the line. The relayed message invariably gets contorted before reaching the last person in the chain. The end result is often quite funny, with the final whispered message bearing little resemblance to the original. Words get lost or twisted, and more dramatically, the original meaning is often entirely lost. The longer and more complex the starting message, the less chance it has of surviving the trip.

As a game, this can be funny. However, in real life when it involves your business, it’s no laughing matter. In referral marketing, communication is critical; success rests on the delivery and impact of your message.

Similar to the “telephone game” you may have played as a child, you need to keep checking down the line to ensure that your original business message is being accurately passed along by your referral partners.   

As you continue to build your business network, you need to know how much information your fellow networkers are really hearing and understanding. At times, you may need to make adjustments in the way you disseminate your message so that is duplicated and repeated effectively. 

Each messenger (referral partner) may use a different technique and they may have different motives for participating in the race, but the essence of each message is what needs to cross the finish line. 

Remember, your message is the description you give of your business and your target market when you introduce yourself to someone in a networking environment or when giving a presentation. It’s typically a sentence or two, taking 10-30 seconds to deliver. If your message is too complex, lacks passion, or flies over the listener’s head, it will probably not be memorable. If it’s not memorable, it can’t be repeated. Is your message “loud and clear”? 

RELATED BLOG POSTS: