I am constantly surprised when speaking with entrepreneurs and CEO\u2019s who act puzzled ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/berkonomics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Business-mantra-300x107.png\")
and a bit flustered when I ask, \u201cSo what is your mantra?\u00a0 Tell me about your company in ten words or less.\u201d\u00a0 Almost everyone begins a long explanation of their business that is nearly impossible to follow, let alone recall a few moments later.<\/p>\n
The easy way to lose an opportunity<\/strong><\/p>\n And each lost an opportunity to tell their story in a memorable way that has power and boosts their enterprise value in the minds of the listener.\u00a0 I recently spent fifteen minutes in front of a table-top display, attempting to coach an entrepreneur who repeatedly tried to state why his business was better than a competitor (one I didn\u2019t recognize) and never explaining what it was that he did.<\/p>\n You only have seconds to do it or lose<\/strong><\/p>\n [Email readers, continue here…]<\/em><\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0In explaining what you do, and what you do better than the other company, you have seconds – and only seconds – to get your image across into the minds of your listener.\u00a0 The best way to do this with a young company without name recognition is to appropriate the image of another, known company, to invoke the quick mental understanding of what you do.<\/p>\n Some examples of excellent mantra<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cWe are the Skype of moderated Internet broadcasting,\u201d evokes immediately the mental picture of a company that provides a platform for broadcasting town hall meetings or large group gatherings over the Internet, much as Skype does with one-to-one video connectivity.<\/p>\n So, that\u2019s a mantra?<\/strong><\/p>\n That\u2019s a mantra: a short, quickly understood picture of your business in just a few words, often using the name of a well-known company or process to complete the picture-story.<\/p>\n Count the seconds<\/strong><\/p>\n You have only seconds to make a first impression.\u00a0 Your mantra is the ticket to entrance into a longer conversation.\u00a0 It is often the most powerful but inexpensive marketing tool a young company has to offer.\u00a0\u00a0 And it is often extremely difficult to craft effectively in just a few words.\u00a0 So, what is your mantra?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Ever stand with someone you\u2019ve never met when at a party, a trade show or just meet someone in the hallway? We all have. And then that person opens his or her mouth and spends a boring two minutes describing … Continue reading ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/berkonomics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Mantra1.png\")
Yet, if you took the time to describe the company with that longer description after the quotes above, you\u2019d lose many of your listeners with too much detail and too many words.\u00a0 With the short description evoking the image of a known company, the listener immediately grasps enough to engage in a discussion \u2013 or at least walk away and be able to repeat to another the main thrust of the business.<\/p>\n