Let's take a look at the following situation:
If you are a consultant of McKinsey & Company and receive a task from a decoration material company, you must find out the reasons for the decline of the company's market share and give countermeasures. You worked for six months, prepared a report and had a two-hour meeting with the CEO of the company. Before the meeting, the CEO suddenly received an urgent call to go to the lawyer's office to talk about an urgent matter. In this case, the CEO said, why not get off the elevator together and talk about your thoughts (30 seconds). What will you say in these 30 seconds?
The two-hour report should be condensed to 30 seconds, and it should be mentioned in the CEO's heart, so that I can arrange time to meet you again in my busy schedule. Is it difficult?
In fact, we often encounter similar situations at work. For example, at the year-end summary meeting, you originally prepared 1 30-minute speech. When you arrive at the meeting, the general manager may suddenly tell you that you will only be given five minutes to speak because of the temporary change of the agenda.
How to deal with situations like "elevator lobbying" in the workplace?
"Elevator marketing" is an impromptu expression. The so-called improvisation is to communicate with the audience in a short preparation time. In addition to the situation similar to "elevator lobbying", it also includes all kinds of impromptu speeches, answering questions, and actively talking to people with high status in social activities.
The characteristics of "elevator marketing" include: generally speaking, there is no time to prepare, improvise and communicate with each other for a short time. This is because of these characteristics that "elevator marketing" is a difficult communication, because it needs high expression ability, listening ability and adaptability to impress each other in a short time.
First of all, we should realize that "elevator marketing" is everywhere, and this time is the best time to show our style. We should take the initiative and deal with it generously and confidently. After all, influence depends on whether we have the courage to stand in front of decision makers and sell ourselves.
For example, if you meet the chairman alone in the elevator, you should take the initiative to greet the chairman, introduce yourself appropriately, and seize the opportunity to promote yourself. (For the specific response to this situation, please refer to the article "Turning Unexpected Encounters into Opportunities: Grasping Opportunities with Structured Expressions" by the owner of EQ. )
Put your heart and soul into it and use the skills of active listening. As a philosopher said: People have two ears but only one mouth, so listen more and talk less. Sincere and attentive listening can help us better grasp the impromptu moment. Listening is first and foremost a matter of attitude, which requires three hearts, namely patience, modesty and understanding.
Here, the EQ cabinet mainly emphasizes understanding. The so-called understanding is to listen with an understanding heart, make full use of empathy, and think about why he speaks like that from the other side's standpoint. What is his intention? What are his interests? What are his major interests? Using this technique can help us grasp the new information of the audience and adjust the conversation content in time.
For example, a car salesman once shared his failure experience: a customer with a strong desire to buy a new car came to see the car, but after talking for 10 minutes, he refused to buy a car. Later, the salesman sincerely asked the user why, only to know that the customer thought the salesman didn't care enough about him. It turned out that the customer mentioned in the conversation that his son had been admitted to Harvard Medical School, but the salesman was too focused on recommending the new car in the store and ignored the customer's proud concern.
In a short time, the effect of "elevator marketing" should be mainly based on content. Only those expressions that can gain the attention of the audience, bring value to the audience and convey good intentions to the audience will impress the other party. Here, we still suggest using the framework of "starting+viewpoint+argument+call to action" (for the introduction of this framework, please refer to the article "This template makes your self-introduction shine" by the emotional intelligence cabinet owner).
Take the opening story as an example to explain how to improvise in 30 seconds. Look at the following mind map first.
The above mind map uses the template of "opening hand+viewpoint+argument+call to action" introduced by EQ cabinet owner in the article "This template makes your self-introduction shine" to organize the impromptu expression of the opening "elevator marketing" situation. According to this template, look at the following statement:
According to the survey, we believe that this plan can increase the company's market share by 30% within half a year (grasping the hand: CEO is most concerned), that is, the organization of the company's sales staff will be changed from the previous division by region to the division by product (summarizing the views in one sentence). We will discuss the details later and wish you a pleasant interview with the lawyer (Call to Action: Don't forget to calm the CEO's possible nervousness and convey your concern).
Because there are only 30 seconds, the demonstration part is omitted. If the content of the report is organized according to this framework from the beginning, you can deal with it calmly no matter how much time you have after arriving at the scene.
Emotional intelligence cabinet owners believe that using structured thinking at impromptu moments can make us express ourselves freely. (See the main article of the cabinet: Let me introduce myself freely.)
Because time is tight, you should strengthen your communication effect in a limited time, supplemented by body language. For example, in the opening situation, use eye contact to express your sincerity and concentration, use a calm expression to express your confidence and calmness, and lean forward slightly to express your concern and respect. The owner of EQ will write an article about body language communication skills in the future.
In a word, elevator marketing is everywhere. With the willingness to communicate actively, pay attention to active listening, make good use of structured expressions, supplemented by body language, we can seize this opportunity and fully enhance our personal influence.
After reading this article, the next time you meet an impromptu occasion of "elevator marketing", I believe you will confidently meet the challenge of "elevator marketing":-)
("EQ Librarian", the "EQ Librarian" in Zhihu, and the "EQ Librarian" in WeChat official account, focus on improving the soft power of college students and newcomers in the workplace, and focus on building workplace communication, thinking and learning. Welcome to continue to pay attention. )