30 Second Elevator Message

1
30 Second Elevator Message

• Succinct Meaningful Communication

September 15, 2009 Joan Barnes Development
Outreach Librarian University Libraries
2
Whats In it for You?

• Perfecting communication skills increases your
  credibility and gets you respect
• You get to communicate what you know
• Build professional relationships
• Building relationships with potential donors
  could bring to the Libraries
• Tell the truth in a constructive way (being
  positive is in how you frame the truth -- not
  telling the truth builds mistrust)

3
Outline

• Review of Communication process
• On the way to the elevator (30 second) message
• Steps for a 30 second elevator message
• Examples
• Things to avoid using
• Exercise
• Questions
• Summary

4
Review of Communication Process

• The process by which information (message) is
  sent from one person the sender to another
  the receiver and how it is received.
• Includes verbal and non-verbal messages
• Nonverbal tone of voice, facial expressions,
  body stance, gestures, proximity.
• 90 of message is sent nonverbally.
• Long, Rob. The Art of Positive Communication.
  David Fulton Publishers, 2005.
• Others

5
Review of Communication Process

• 2-way process -- The message has to be received
  -- so someone has to listen.
• Active Listening Attending to many messages at
  the same time and being able to select and
  respond to those most relevant
• An active listener checks that she/he really
  understands what is being said.
• Long, 2005.

6
Review of Communication Process

• Active Listening
• Involves
• Paraphrasing
• shows you understand
• Asking Questions
• tell me more
• Empathizing
• Descriptive observations

7
What is an elevator message

• Originally used in business to connect quickly
  with a potential client/partner used
  proactively or as a response
• Brief message that is customizable for you, your
  listener and their goals
• 4 Steps or Parts (includes talking listening)
• Powerful way to make a connection with another
  person
• Supposed to be memorable in a good way
• Wiskup, Mark. The it Factor Be the One People
  Like, Listen To, and Remember.
• AMA. 2007.

8
On the way to an elevator message

• Alters the status quo.
• Every sentence, every conversation, and every
  discussion is based on the premise that something
  needs to change All conversation is about
  change.
• What change do you want? Do you want someone to
  listen to your input on a project? Do you want
  teaching faculty to listen to you?

9
On the way to the Elevator

• You are the brand of the Libraries
• You are the business card
• And your elevator message will reflect that.
• It is not talking points or advertising slogans
• Avoid those, they can be perceived as
  disingenuous, sound canned

10
Building the Elevator message

• Step 1
• Describe your (business, job, project, service,
  resource) using non-jargon words.
• Jargon does not make connections because people
  dont understand it.
• Avoid Jargon

11
Which is better?

• I am a development and public relations
  professional for the University Libraries,
  working with the Friends of the Libraries and
  staffing events such at the Big Red Welcome and
  Red Letter days.
• Or
• I build relationships with all kinds of people on
  behalf of the Libraries -- with Friends and
  Alumni to raise money to support the Libraries
  goals and with students so that they know what
  resources the Libraries provide in order to
  support their education.

12
Building the Elevator Message

• Step 2
• Focus on Customers (user experience)
• Immediately move to how you serve your
  constituents
• or how that resource/project/your job impacts
  students and faculty at UNL
• Step 2- is the start of the why portion of the
  Elevator message

13
Example

• I
• I build relationships with all kinds of people on
  behalf of the Libraries -- with Friends and
  Alumni to raise money to support the Libraries
  goals and with students so that they know what
  resources the Libraries provide in order to
  support their education.
• I staff the online chat reference service where I
  can guide distance students through some of our
  information resources in real time.

14
Building the Elevator message

• Step 3
• Focus on overcoming a challenge one of your
  customers is facing (or faced)
• You need to paint a specific picture of a single
  problem you helped tackle for a single patron.
• If you are going to talk features pick one
  that connects with the listener

15
Example of Step 3

• The NU Foundation referred a donor to me, who
  wanted to honor her grandson with a plaque
  somewhere on campus, but the donor did not have
  the means to sponsor a room. The Friends
  furniture campaign fit her needs and she was
  thrilled to sponsor a study table and chair set.
• Just the other day I received an interesting
  question about the behavior of the dung beetle
  from a graduate student working in Africa and I
  was able to help him formulate the research
  search terms to use in the Biological Abstracts
  database.

16
Describing Features

• Pay particular attention to the words you assign
  to features
• Feature are described with an adjective followed
  by a noun dedicated staff, quaint study areas,
  accessible databases, user friendly software,
  large format scanners
• Limit features to five words or less
• Excessive features which do not meet listeners
  goals actually dilute the features and benefits
  that do

17
Building the Elevator Message

• Step 4
• Focus on a Happy Ending for that one story
• Illustrate the successful solving of the problem.
• This really conveys the why and benefits of the
  service, resource, the libraries

18
Example of Step 4

• she was thrilled to sponsor a study table and
  chair set. She sent pictures of the furniture to
  her grandson congratulating him on his
  graduation. We were so excited that we were able
  to help this donor honor her loved one through
  the University Libraries and at the same time her
  gift provides a place for a student to study.
• The grad student was able to find a couple of
  specific journal articles that answered his
  question about the behavior of the dung beetle.
  Even in the middle of Africa our students have
  access to our research collection and expertise.

19
Benefits

• The value that a listener derives from features
  that achieve their goal(s).
• Described with a verb or adverb followed by a
  noun or noun phrase increases efficiency or
  motivates users
• Like features, limit Benefits to five words or
  less to ensure clarity and to make them sound
  powerful and vivid

20
What is the difference?

• "We are throwing away books and journals to which
  we have electronic access.
• Or
• The popularity of our online materials gives us
  the opportunity to review the value of duplicate
  print materials and make room on the shelves for
  other materials and even study space, which is so
  valued by students.

21
Other Things to Avoid

• Sarcasm
• Humor
• Threats
• Commands
• Prophecy
• Lecturing

22
Exercise

• Write down a couple of facts that describe you
  what you do, or your projects, or service, or
  resource (no jargon)
• Write down who is impacted by you (or your
  project, or resource, etc) how they are
  impacted
• One challenge faced by 2 and how you or your
  project, resource, service helped solve that
  challenge
• Happy ending Successful outcome
• Put it all together Elevator speech

23
Summary

• Building relationships with a concise,
  customizable, memorable message
• 4 steps to follow in developing a message about
  you, your impact, your customer, an example and
  successful outcome.
• Think about the person receiving the message and
  their perception
• You are the Libraries
• Everyone you talk with, work with, or come in
  contact with is a potential supporter of the
  Libraries