Crafting the perfect intro
In an interview, Clay Herbert walks Nathan Barry through creating the best answer to the question “So what do you do?”. We have all been asked that at some point when meeting someone new.
Most people when asked this question reel off something about their role or an “elevator pitch”. Clay suggests that these intros should not be about you, they should be about how you help others and why.
He proposes starting with the phrase “I help people” do something and then extending it with a phrase of the format “verb their noun”. So, for my role it could be “I help people produce their best code”.
With a small refinement this can now become a headline or a course title by switching “their” for “your”. So using my example I could produce a course called “Produce your best code”.
To find your verbs and nouns you could create a spreadsheet with a column for each and try different combinations; make a list of the verbs and the potential nouns and try combining them in different ways until you find your favourite.
This should lead to changing the words “people” and “help”. So maybe my new intro becomes “I enable developers to produce their best code”.
If that doesn’t work then you can lean on analogies. I am not claiming to be this, but an example could be “I am the Anthony Robbins for developers”, i.e. I am someone who can help developers achieve their best.
Lastly he suggests that business cards are not dead and can be used as a way to stand out. Don’t think of them as a way to just provide content, use them as a way to start conversations. His example was that he produced 50 business cards, each with a different case story (his version of a case study) on the back, and asked the recipient to pick one.
Here are the notes from the podcast.
Introductions: Focus on ‘Them’
- Introductions aren’t about you.
- Focus on who you help and why.
- This principle aligns with effective copywriting, which prioritizes customer needs over self-promotion.
Intro Formula
- Start your intro with “I help people…”
- Complete it with describing the result they achieve, framed as “verb their noun.”
- Identify the noun your customer wants acted upon (verbed) and use that verb.
- Substitute ‘your’ for ’their’ to create compelling headlines or course titles.
Tuning Your Intro
- Brainstorm intros with a “verb their noun” formula.
- Try different versions in a spreadsheet, varying verbs and nouns.
Alternate Introduction Formulas
- Change “people” to who you help and “help” to a different verb.
- Consider alternate formulas like “I’m X for Y,” where X and Y are familiar but not typically paired.
Moo Business Cards
- Use the back of Moo business cards to showcase different client stories or testimonials.
- This differentiates you and provides talking points.
Leverage Email Signatures
- Include links to case studies or success stories in employee email signatures.
- This provides additional touchpoints to showcase your work and engage recipients.
Links