A Powerful Introduction

Meetings

You walk into the door to a meeting, and there are half a dozen people there you’ve never met before. All of these people will likely have different personality types. So, how do you introduce yourself?

At the very start, you often just say, “Hi, hi, hi, hi,” you shake hands, you sit down, you all have your cups of tea, and no-one really knows who anyone is or what they do.

There is a better way of introducing yourself.

Who are you?

When you introduce yourself to somebody, what information do you tend to give them?

Well, usually you give them your name:

“Hi, I’m Sally”

You might even add your job title:

“Hi, I’m Sally, I’m a Business Trainer”.

You might not go beyond that at this stage if there are several of you, because it’ll be information overload! But, at that point when you’re sitting down and you you do the “Shall we introduce yourselves?” that is the moment to shine…

What value do you add?

When people introduce themselves, they tend to just say, “this is my name, here is my business card, here is my job title.” And clients often are not certain what that means. If it’s the start of a meeting and there’s, say, four of you going to see the client, they might well be thinking, “Why have you brought four people? Do we need four people? Am I paying for four people?”!

So, you can dispel that right way, and add some credibility to your presence by telling them what you do and what value you bring:

“Hi, I’m Sally, I’m a business trainer. I specialises in delivering practical and engaging development programmes to help people do their job better and fulfil their potential”

So, engage people the value you add, it’s much more powerful than simply telling someone your name and job title!

(Plus, developing that introduction also gives you a great “Elevator Pitch” for networking!)

David Solomon
Managing Director, Sun and Moon Training
@SunMoonDavid

Photo copyright: belchonock / 123RF Stock Photo

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