The Tale of Two Introductions

Two colleagues attended a local industry event. Their goal? Meet new people. Make connections and set up meetings to pitch their products. 

As they entered the event, they each agreed to work half of the room. Jay headed towards the back and Charlie stayed at the front. As they walked back to the car, they began to compare notes. 

Jay met lots of new people. Too many to count. Unfortunately, he’d only achieved one connection that could turn into a lead. Everyone he talked to seemed uninterested and unfocused. Jay quickly determined the event was filled with the wrong people. He finished his recap with, “what a waste of a good 90 minutes.” 

Charlie only met 6 people. He’d meant to circulate and find more, but his initial contact kept pulling people in. Instead of working the room, Charlie had been at the same table all night. In the end, five of his connections agreed to a future meeting. Charlie finished his recap with, “Let’s do this every month!”

If you are a leader who requires people to network, this story might sound familiar. Do you have a Jay and or Charlie? Or even worse, is everyone on your team getting the same results as Jay? What was the difference? Jay and Charlie didn’t know. They both shared the same goal; be friendly, talk about the company, get appointments. 

Charlie and Jay didn't know the difference, but the people who met them, did!

Charlie engaged people with stories. Jay introduced himself with a pitch. 

In my effort to improve my introduction I turned to a few books. One, in particular, rang true for me; Sell with a Story by Paul Smith. In the book, Paul describes how stories, rather than pitches, increase connection, increase memory and activate the decision making quadrants of our brains. Anything that sounds like a pitch sends us to the reactive part of the brain. In other words, a pitch elicits a fight or flight response. 

While Charlie was making connections, Jay was pitching people who were retreating as fast as they could. 

According to Smith, every good story needs to have a few elements so the listener will recognize it as a story.

?  Hook - The moment you hear “Once upon a time” you know what will happen next.

?  Context (time, place, a hero and a villain)

?  Action (What happened- the conflict- the solution)

?  Result (the moral or reason for the story)

So how do these translate to your personal introduction? Here are a few tips you can try. 

Instead of saying, I’ve been with the company 13 years. Start your intro story with something that happened 13 years ago that made you switch jobs, or tell about a recent event that makes you stay. (Hook and Context)

Instead of stating your title and what you do, you might try telling a story about why you do it and what your work does for others. (Action) 

Rather than features and benefits, tell your listener what clients say about you or highlight why customers work with your company. (Results)

Personalize your introduction to tell people who you are. Share your experiences and give whoever you are talking to a reason to want to know you. There will be plenty of time to get into the "meat" of a meeting later. When you’re introducing yourself, like when you are making a new friend, stay focused on the "meet" of the meeting, and you will be surprised at how it changes your results!

Next week, I’ll share a few examples of real introductions stories as the final installment in our What is Your Introduction Doing for Others series.