“Hillbilly Flamenco”: What’s your unusual elevator-pitch?

“What's your specialty area?”

[This is where I teach you to come up with a brief, straightforward Elevator Pitch].

…Or is it?!

I want to teach you a clever trick for talking about your business. But first, a story:

Author/Entrepreneur Derek Sivers talks about a small-time band that was seeking more festival gigs so they could start reaching larger audiences. 

There's a lot of competition to land spots at big festivals; things weren't going well.

On the phone with festival-booking managers, the band leader could practically feel their eyes rolling as he'd describe the music as “kind of a jam band, but more: we have an eclectic mix of musical influences, blah blah blah…” 

Meh. No bites. They still weren't getting festival bookings.

Later at one club gig, the band noticed a guy in the audience who was very drunk, very loud, and very enthusiastic about their music. (There's always that one guy, right?).

As the man stumbled and danced to the music, he shouted/slurred, “You guys are awesome! You're like… hillbilly… flamenco!"

The band guys looked at each other, amused. “Hillbilly flamenco?” Weird. “Drunk guys, amirite?”

The next time the band leader was on the phone with a festival-booker, he got the usual question: “Tell me about your music.”

“Um, we're like…well, we've been called ‘Hillbilly Flamenco’.”

“I have no idea what you mean by that, but I have got to hear this.You've got the gig.”

This phenomenon continued: 

The weird description of their music made them memorable: it created a “velcro-effect” where they hooked onto people's brains, keeping them fresh and compelling in people's minds. 

“Hillbilly Flamenco” was also brief and repeatable.

The description helped others do their marketing for them. 

The band booked a record number of festivals that year.

What's your “Hillbilly Flamenco" ?

That is:

It's always great to have an unusual way to answer to the usual questions. 

You know, questions like: “What do you do?”, “Tell me about your business?”, or “What kind of therapist/writer/[insert profession] are you?”.

How can you answer the usual questions with an idea, image, metaphor, or wording that'll create a “hook” in people's brains, or pique their curiosity?

 (It’s much better than the standard Elevator Pitch answer).

If you can't think of anything, let your clients come up with it for you. You never know when you'll hear them utter an interesting word or phrase to describe the work you do.

Play with metaphors. 

Listen to the wording your clients and customers use.

Think of other professions you could draw from to describe your work (ex. "I'm like _______, but for ______.")

Most of all, have fun with it.

And reply to tell me what you come up with! I'd love to hear from you.

Your resident “therapist for your business,”

-Jane