Why They Don’t Remember You (It’s Science)

Why They Don’t Remember You (It’s Science)

Most people you meet, you don’t remember. Forgettable people with no story and no reason to think of them. Or maybe you’re shoved into a generic box, “He’s the guy who does insurance” or “She’s some kind of doctor.”

Is that what you are to other people?

If you were more memorable and relevant, you’d get more opportunities. People like to buy from, and do deals with, people who are relevant to them.

When I ran a marketing agency for law firms, I was “the legal marketing guy who actually used to run a law firm” – useful positioning, because people knew when to think of me. If you ran a law firm, and wanted more clients, you’d want to hire someone who had been in your shoes and knew marketing.

There were other “legal marketing guys” – but the last piece distinguished me. It made the positioning more attractive.

After I sold that company I didn’t have a clear “elevator pitch”. I started several businesses, but I struggled with finding a concise way to communicate when to think of me.

I used psychological principles and research on memory to create a formula for an elevator pitch (more on that later).

What is the goal of having a personal pitch?

  • call out to exactly who you want to be connected to, and have them thinking “I need to talk to him”
  • when you talk to anyone who isn’t a target, have them be able to remember you and communicate your value to others.

You’re creating a mind virus.

My current positioning: “I help entrepreneurs avoid being stuck in a stagnant business and grow revenue using Scientific Entrepreneurship.” It calls out who I’m interested in talking with, their pain point, and gives a unique mechanism I use which gets them asking “Wait, what is Scientific Entrepreneurship?”

It also repels some people. If you aren’t the kind of person who thinks business can be distilled into a science, you’re probably not sufficiently left-brained to work with me.

For people like me, who own multiple disparate businesses, or want to attract multiple types of people, it’s harder. I had to widen the lens beyond any one of my businesses, finding a positioning that is wide enough to attract opportunities, but narrow enough to not be generic. I also chose from several different positioning – some might be just as accurate (I help people fix their business operations) but are less sexy than revenue so are less attractive.

You’ll change it over time. Create variations depending on who you’re talking to, based on reactions to trying one. It’s like trying on clothing. You try several outfits on, and see which suits you best.

The formula for writing your own and testing it is straightforward, but there’s some nuance. I’ll record a training and put it in CEO Workbench next week.

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