For those of you who may not know, ABC’s The Bachelorette’s new season premiered on Tuesday. The premiere is all about first impressions. At the end of the night, the goal is to get noticed and be remembered. Contestants will go to great lengths to get noticed – some genuine, some not.

There was Saint Nick, who introduced himself by showing up in a Santa Clause outfit to associate with his name ‘Nick’. Jonathan arrived wearing a kilt and told his story about being half Irish.

How did Nick and Jonathan stand out? They had an “elevator speech”. They each created a unique impression that they hope will be remembered by their audience.

Now we know that when most people think about The Bachelorette, they aren’t thinking about elevator speeches, but we believe these introductions are similar to what business men and women do every day in meeting with clients, associates, and even prospects.

Have you ever been in this situation? You’re in an elevator at a convention among your peers and someone asks, “What do you do?” What do you say? You’ve got about 15 seconds to establish yourself and make an impression before the other person becomes distracted or disinterested. The person listening won’t even be tuned in to the first 10 seconds because they are judging your appearance and their gut feeling about you. So you really only have about five seconds. Can you say what you stand for in five seconds?

It’s the same thing with the contestants on The Bachelorette. They only have about 15 seconds to make an impression. So how can your elevator speech stand out?

Keep It Simple. You only have about 5 seconds to make an impression so you want to keep it short and be concise. Once you establish a connection, you can go into more details about what you do.

Tell A Story. Stories come from the heart and are an easy way to make an impression because they come from a place of authenticity. 

Be Genuine. When people sense that you are authentic, they feel more connected to what you are saying and want to know more about you and what you do.

So next time someone asks you, “what do you do?”, what are you going to say? Remember - you only have five seconds.

One one-thousand, two one-thousand, three one-thousand, four one-thousand, five one-thousand (and you’re done).