Grab attention, keep it, leverage it.

Grabbing attention and making your point in any arena is key to having an impact and ultimately getting new business.

When Mary and I lived in Atlanta we only had our teenage son with us full time.  Teen years in Atlanta after moving from West Houston was a pretty significant transition.  However, I must say that the people in Atlanta were the most friendly and gracious of all the cities we lived in while we were moving around about every 5 years with my old corporate job. 

Well, we would sit down to have a conversation with our son about something important - at least to us - and after a period of time he would say "Mom, your 20 seconds were up a long time ago".  We can reflect back on those days now with some humor and levity.  But, let's don't miss the point - in today's world you get only the blink of an eye to make a good impression.  Based on this experience, you might say you've go a 20 x 20 x 20 opportunity to make the right impression and make the right point to build relationship.

20 x 20 x 20:
How do you look 20 feet away?  Are you dressed for success?  Are you dressed for the occasion? Are you dressed consistent with the impression you want to make?

How do you look from 20 inches away?  You may look great from a distance but do you look great up close.  The other day I visited with a woman who looked great from 20 feet away but when she got close, here skin was so dry and blotchie - it made my skin hurt.  I have to admit, that I look a lot better from 20 yards away - like the Tootsie movie when the producer told the cameraman to back up when filming Dustin Hoffman playing a woman.

What are your first 20 words out of your mouth?  Do you know what to say in the appropriate occasion.  The "What do you do for a living?" question is the real tricky one and "I'm a logger" is not going to set anyone on their ear (being a logger is an inside joke to a few of my old banking friends).  Avoid any 'commodity' type answer and instead use word pictures.

An example that applies here "What do you do for a living?" would be -" I'm Paul Lindholm and my wife Mary and I have a health and wellness business - which means we  provide nutritional supplements that have you bouncing out of bed in the morning and gives you energy all day long with with no blahs after lunch, more mental sharpness through the day, and when your head hits the pillow at night you are asleep in 7 minutes.  In other words, we can help you feel like you were 16 again but with better judgement"

Now, if you are a word counter then you know I had a continuation hook before the end of my first 20 words - which means - you use that because your listener is about to doze off after hearing 'health and wellness' thinking that you must be a doctor's bed pan assistant or work in a hospital as the guy who collects contaminated rubbish.

You use which means to clarify and emphasize your meaning in terms your audience can identify with - bouncing out of bed, energy all day, no blahs, mental sharpness, and asleep in 7 minutes are all picture phrases most people can visualize very easily .  Additionally, when you use which means the listeners brain says "wait a second, there's a mystery here and I want to solve it, so I'd better pay attention"   That is also why you use in other words to give your grand finale as the listeners brain says "what other words, let me know".

Then your memorable hook 'feel like your were 16 again but with better judgement" - we all can remember how we felt invincible at age 16 so WOW, the listeners brain says "you may be someone I might want to get to know"  The point with all this wordsmithing is that about every 20 words you need to have some type of hook to keep the other person's interest.  The key is to be prepared but not to sound and appear mechanical - it takes some practice but you will become a better recognized conversationalist if you can "hook" them every 20 words.

Try this 20 x 20 x 20 concept out and see if it doesn't help you when meeting and greeting people. 

By the way, if you are in the Georgetown area and looking for a great networking opportunity, the Board of Directors Networking Group meets at Mel's Lone Star Lanes every Wednesday from 8:30 to 9:30.  Its a great group and we have "education" presentations like the one above.

Curious about our health and wellness business?  Check us out.