Word count: 942

Time to read: 2-3 minutes

The $60K + difference

Depending on your perspective, $60 thousand dollars is a little or a lot. For most of us, it’s a lot of money. That’s $5 thousand a month, over the course of a full year. If someone was stealing that much from you, you might be pretty mad. You would probably do something about it. Right away.

Someone is stealing from you every month. But how much?

You most likely have a thief who is steadily and stealthily taking money out of your pocket, out of your savings account, out of your vacation fund, out of your retirement account, and so on.

It’s not just money. It’s also time.

That same thief is stealing your time, time with your family, time spent on your hobby, time with your favorite charity, time at church, time with your loved ones, time reading; time from the things that make life worth living.

The biggest thing the thief is stealing is…

Your sense of self-confidence. You can recover from a lot. But, if you lose your sense of self-confidence, practically everything seems difficult; there is little (if any) light at the end of the tunnel.

When does the thief strike?

Why is Apple here today?

Apple wasn't first; it wasn't the best. The others were the TRS-80, the Altair 8800, and Imsai 8080. Computers were intimidating, but Apple was “friendly.” The name told a repeatable story that took off, despite an initial marketing budget of just $91 thousand. Apple was instantly meaningful and easy to repeat. The rest is history.

Get it right and repeatable and…

You stop the thief in his tracks. Almost anybody can increase his income by $1 thousand per month, within 90 days or less, by being clear and repeatable. Many can increase it by $5 thousand, and more, when they get it right. It usually takes a lot less time to make that money, too. That’s time to spend on what really matters in your life.

Getting it right means…

Passing two tests. First, what you do is meaningful to a specific type or group of people; it is not for everyone. Second, you solve, in an effective way, a big problem, or you meet an aspiration, that the group has. This is simple, but almost never done. If you get it just partially right, you win and the thief is slowed, or stopped.

The acid test

I routinely make a million-dollar bet. If I talked to the 20 people closest to you and asked who you serve, what problem(s) you address and what outcomes you deliver, my bet is that I would not hear one relatively uniform answer. I have yet to pay up. Most people’s spouses can’t even give a specific, easy to repeat answer. The thief loves this.

How to do it (checklist alert)

The recipe is simple. 1) Who do you serve, specifically? 2) What major problem do you address? 3) What innovative outcome do you deliver? 4) What proof of effectiveness can you offer?

That’s it. Write it down, make it flow and easy to repeat and you are on your way. Practice, practice, practice. Anyone can do it.

Test and polish

You won’t get it right to start. Build one and test it. You will know it is good when others repeat it, and members of your target market say, “Tell me more,” 30 percent to 60 percent of the time.

Key to referrals and word-of-mouth

Referrals and word-of-mouth (WOM) are, in reality, I believe, the primary way most people survive in business. Succeeding in business means getting your elevator speech worked out so that your world can easily give you referral and WOM support. If you can’t pass the acid test above, you are giving the thief open rein in your life.

Want more help stopping the thief?

The first edition of Elevator Speech sold approximately 15,000 copies and got rave reviews.

The second edition of Elevator Speech contains all the wisdom of the first, plus some potent additions. It contains easy-to-follow, step-by-step instructions. It includes all the tricks you’re likely need, as well as the traps you’ll want to avoid.

Maybe best of all…

Lots of examples you can convert for your own use

The new edition of Elevator Speech also includes scores of real-world examples that you can convert to your own use, especially if you’re in one of these fields:

• Insurance
• Financial planning
• Real estate
• Legal
• Recruitment
• Stock brokering
• Consulting
• Training

If you already own the first edition of Elevator Speech, we will send you a special email offer that discounts the new edition by the amount you paid for the first. A very sweet deal.

So tell me… What do you do?