26. Make an interesting intro
'So what do you do?' It's a question we all get (and probably ask). Wouldn't it be nice NOT to answer with your job title and organisation - which often doesn't describe what you even do?! I explain an alternative to take for a spin at your next networking event.
Transcript
"So Sally, what do you do?"
"Oh, I'm a voice coach.”
"Oh, that's cool. Like for singers?"
"No more like speakers. Yeah."
"Oh, okay."
I need this episode for me. So let's get stuck into how to make an interesting intro.
I'm Sally Prosser and you're listening to That Voice Podcast. No matter who you are or what you do, your voice matters. So unless you've sworn a lifetime vow of silence, this is the podcast for you.
Welcome to episode 26 of That Voice Podcast, how to make interesting intros. Before we get stuck into that, I'd love you to check your watches. Okay. Check your watches. If it is before 10:30 AM Australian Eastern Standard Time on Monday the 2nd of March, right, so Brisbane time Australia. Then quick jump on and register for my free masterclass - How to speak with confidence, clarity, and charisma that's happening online at 10:30 AM Australian Eastern Standard Time.
So if you head to my website, sallyprosser.com.au then you can save your spot. If you're busy at 10:30 no worries - still jump in and register because you'll be sent the full recording. If you're in the other category where it's after 10:30 AM Australian Eastern Standard Time on Monday the 2nd of March then I would still love you to head to my website, sallyprosser.com.au because I have a special offer for you too. You might've heard me mention on the 16th of March, two weeks away, I'm kicking off My Six Week Voice Makeover and I'm going to be running through the six fundamentals you need to speak in any scenario you find yourself with more confidence to speak clearly and to sound interesting. So you might be a student studying journalism, you might be a business owner who makes a lot of sales calls and does a lot of pitching, speaking at events, being on panels. You might have to present at work, you might need to present to the board, you might have a podcast of your own. Chances are sometime through your day you're going to find yourself speaking to someone other than yourself. Totally fine to speak to yourself as well. I do that quite often. So this Six Week Voice Makeover, it's on Facebook, it's 100% online, and over the six weeks I'm going to be sharing loads of fantastic resources to nail these six fundamental things you need for great speaking any time, and of course I'll be going live for Q&A so you can ask me whatever you like. It's the first time I've run something like this, so I'm super excited. It's going to be very interactive and very practical.
One of my favorite Marie Forleo quotes is "success doesn't come from what you do occasionally success from what you do consistently" and so this is a great way to consistently be putting in some good habits that will make a real difference rather than, "Oh yeah, that course I did once was very nice."
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Okay, so back to how to make an interesting intro. We've all been in that scenario where somebody says, "so what do you do?" And if you're like me, then you ask it as well. It's one of those Go-To questions. I actually want to stop asking it because it's annoying isn't it? It's much better to say, "Oh, what interests you? How was your day?" Rather than what do you do? But let's face it in reality it's a question that we know we're going to get. Wouldn't it be great if we didn't answer with our job title and organization - job title and organization.
So last week I spoke to Sarabeth Berk about how some people can't even really do this because the job title doesn't describe what they do and haven't worked in the corporate world. Honestly, half the job titles, even though they were in the organization I worked for, I had no idea they actually meant. So think about your own job title and say, if I said this to people outside my industry, would they have any idea what I'm talking about? So that's why it's great to have another way that you can answer the "So what do you do" question? Remembering that question is a conversation starter. It's not an invitation to tell people your life story. Have you ever been at a networking event or a party where you've asked somebody what they do and you've gone oh, my gosh, why did I start talking to this person? Because they're giving you the War and Peace version of everything that's ever happened in their life. You don't want to hear that, right? It's a conversation starter, not an invitation for your life story. It's a dialogue, not a monologue.
In saying that you might find yourself in situations where you know you're going round the table and everyone stand up and introduce yourself or tell us a bit about yourself. Those kind of random questions.
So what we're going to do today. I'm going to teach you the Gaddie pitch invented by guy called Gaddie. And what he suggests is the first line is, "you know how ... " there's this problem. Step two. "Well, what I do ..." is solve that problem and the last bit could be "in fact" or "actually" or "that reminds me" and what you want to do is insert a recent example that illustrates the two points above. So I'll give you an example and I actually haven't thought of this. So this is totally on the fly - testing me. Okay. "So Sally, what do you do?" "So you know how a lot of people don't love public speaking, but they find themselves in jobs where they have to do this kind of thing? Well, what I do is I give people a whole lot of strategies they can use to nail the presentation and feel more confident in the process. In fact, I was working with this gorgeous woman last week who had to speak at a conference for work, was really nervous about it, ended up doing such a fantastic job that they asked her to reappear on a panel at the same conference that afternoon."
So you see what I mean? So the first bit is, "you know how" the second part is, "well, what I do" or "what we do" if you're speaking on behalf of a company. And then the last bit, "in fact", "that reminds me," "actually" - some kind of recent example. And if you know what the other person does or you know the kind of environment you're in, you can tailor that framework for the audience. So if I was speaking to somebody in HR or education, I might say something like, "you know how the ability to speak well is important no matter what job people go into. Well what I do is I come into organizations and work with teams to help every single person find their vocal confidence, whether they're on the phone or in front of clients or in front of the board. Actually just last week I was out at QUT with their Business Advantage program because they realise that these are vital skills that you need to take with you, no matter what path you go down in your career."
Okay? So "well, you know how," "well what I do," and "in fact," and if you deliver it in a casual way with a few filler words in a good way, you know, make it sound conversational, not like you're lecturing, then it can be a really great way to open up that conversation and not just give the boring job title and organization. And that structure can also be used when you're asked to stand up and pitch yourself or say a little bit about, a little bit about yourself.
So there you have it. That's the Gaddie pitch. It's not mine. It's on the internet. So if you've forgotten this, just search, it's G A D, D I E pitch. There's a few different versions of it, but it's usually number one, what the problem is. Number two, your solution and then three, how you go about delivering that kickass solution. Easy to remember. Very, very handy.
The shorter version of that is just I help X do Y. I help people be better speakers. So it's a description of what you do rather than a title, but still really, really short.
If you have some ideas about how we can make better introductions, I would really love to hear what they are. So contact me on any social media platform, even TikTok, I'm on TikTok now, it's @sallyprosservoice. I really encourage you to follow me because there is stuff on there that you will not see anywhere else. It's a lot of fun.
Next week I have a very exciting guest. It's the voice of Siri. Karen Jacobsen is actually the voice of many, many, many GPS devices. It's a fascinating chat. She explains how she went from growing up in Mackay to getting the gig in the States, how she achieves that nice flat voice of direction, like you know, "at the roundabout turn left." And she also explains what people say when they recognize her voice.
Thanks for listening to That Voice Podcast. Remember coupon code T V P to get My Six Week Voice Makeover for $100 off, head to my website, www.sallyprosser.com.au and I will see you there.