POSTED: Monday, August 2nd, 2010 at 1:00 am

BY: dmc-admin

Countless studies confirm the value of a well-honed brand message to improving business success. Despite the remarkable difference in success rate, many in the legal community frown upon spending time and money on fine tuning something as simple as the commonly known 30-second elevator speech.

The American Marketing Association, for example, published research showing an 85 percent probability of success when a strongly defined message is presented to a prospective client. That probability decreases significantly when messaging is moderately (64 percent) or poorly (23 percent) defined. Conversely, the cost of new business development increases exponentially the more time spent convincing a prospective client of your value.

To further illustrate this point, a client of mine recently completed our brand narrative exercise to launch his law firm. The process takes significant amounts of information and boils it down to a clear, concise narrative focused on benefits (not features), why prospects should believe an offer, how an offer is different from competitors, and how all of this produces value for the prospective client.

My client's circle of advisers (many of them lawyers) invariably questioned whether spending money on developing his core narrative was the best use of his money and time. Many, if not all, shared the common view: why spend money for someone to string together a bunch of flowery words? My client, on the other hand, took a different view toward the value of producing a well-crafted message before taking his firm to market.

"This process helped me think through and succinctly convey the benefits of working with my firm versus others," he said. "Without a focused message, your conversations can easily take off in an unproductive direction or no direction at all. You wind up chasing your tail without the right focus."

With this in mind, most of us speak comfortably and intelligibly at a rate of about 150 words per minute. That means you have about 75 words to make your point in 30 seconds. Probably fewer words unless you have someone cornered at cocktail party. And, even then, if you initially go much beyond 30 seconds you will come off as overbearing.

To avoid turning someone off, you might take the following approach. Give the person a quick-hitting synopsis of your offer. Then listen for cues from the recipient of the information. These cues will determine how much more information they want and what specific need they have. As you listen, you can match your specific experiences and expertise to their needs. This advances your credibility, which I believe moves people to act on what you are conveying. Think about your own purchasing habits and what motivates you to act.

So what do we need to do to get your message in shape? Let's start by simulating that cocktail party where you have no more than 30 seconds to convey what you do and why they should spend money with you. Ready. Set. Go!

How did you do? Did you stutter, hesitate? Or did you pitch it competently and confidently with a clear benefit to working with you? If you came up short, here are some tips to help you begin crafting a message that works. First determine your target audience and those who influence their decisions. Then answer the questions below with these people in mind. You should see the beginnings of a concise, value-driven message take shape.

• How is our offer different than others? (Use eight words or less.)
• Why does this matter to the targeted audience? (Use 15 words or less.)
• What do decision-makers think of our offer now?
• What do we want them to think?
• Why will they believe us?
• How will they benefit from our offer?

The clock is ticking. Good luck!

Karl Robe, APR, counsels attorneys and executives on communications strategies that support achievement of growth objectives and overcome business challenges. Contact him at Karl James & Company LLC by emailing karl.robe@karljames.com.

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