What differentiates you from others?
Why should we work with you?
Or simply, Why you?
Do these or similar questions sound familiar to you as a professional service provider? I hear them again and again. Honestly, sometimes it annoys me to start all over again with every single new prospect. What I forget is that a prospect is like an audience. Every audience is a new audience.
Instead of feeling annoyed, I should prepare myself better. Still today, I struggle with an answer that is crisper than Rice Krispies will ever be. But it’s an important answer. A good answer is the key that can open the door to deeper conversations with my prospect. I better get it right!
So – what could I say when I hear one of those crucial questions?
If I extract the essence of the massive amount of feedback I’ve received, to date, I’d say it’s three things that make me special as a trainer and coach:
First, experience. Many trainers use camera, I don’t. Many trainers make you feel that they are someone special, I sit with the team, I’m part of the team. There are no tables, there are no handouts, but music and entertainment. My goal is to turn every training into a memorable experience.
Second, passion. In 2009, I turned my passion for public speaking into a profession. When I passed the threshold into the professional speaking world, I had already been an active member of Toastmasters International for four years. Public speaking is my greatest passion. Everything I do in my job is based on passion.
Third, energy. I don’t help people to become better public speakers. I don’t boost their charisma. I catapult people out of their comfort zones. Throughout the entire training I keep the energy level high, very high, extremely high. In the end, it’s that high energy level that shapes the ground of transformation.
Experience, passion, energy – these may be three good reasons to work with me. But I still face two challenges. One, my answer above is made up of 156 words. This translates into more or less 1.5 minutes of monolog – that’s way too much! Two, how do we sell? We sell with benefits, not with features.
What are the benefits of experience, passion and energy?
Thanks to the experience character of my trainings, people never look at their watch.
For me public speaking is not a job, but my biggest passion. Passion is a powerful persuader.
It’s not Aristotle’s 2,300-year-old theory that transforms people’s lives. It’s not a specific storytelling technique. It’s my energy.
49 words. Good, but not good enough.
Why should we work with you?
For three reasons. One, people never look at their watch. Two, my passion for public speaking is powerfully persuasive. Three, my high energy level has a transformational effect on participants.
30 words, approximately 22 seconds – perfect!
Why should someone work with me? Finally, I have an answer. Next time you hear such a question, what will you answer?