Networking can be tough if you've no clue what to say, or how to introduce yourself. In this episode, I've broken down the steps I took to create the perfect and memorable self-introduction, suited for that first encounter with a professional.

Tune in to the episode now — trust that you'll enjoy it!

Listen to the Episode below:

In this episode, you'll hear about:

What you do, condensed
What do you offer
Features & benefits of that offer
Who you're targetting
The perfect closing

I get asked a lot about how do you introduce yourself when you are networking outside and when you are also meeting people for the first time. It's like an elevator pitch — what do you do and what do you say when you are put in such a situation? This is the episode for you because now we are going to talk about

how you can craft the perfect self-introduction

So I looked through some statistics online and I found that you have seven seconds to make the first impression and you have to make it the best one for you to be remembered.

There are 72% of people saying that their impressions are impacted by how someone appears and their handshake.

I also found this quote that I find very apt in this situation about crafting the perfect self-introduction:

"No matter how advanced our methods of communication have become, nothing seems to have come close to replicating the value of face to face contact."

How powerful is that?

When we are so developed into the online space and online world we forget that we have other activities that can be done offline as well and are far more valuable like face to face contact.

That's why this is my recommendation for you: spend at least once a week going to offline networking session or gathering or mastermind or programs for you to meet other human beings who are entrepreneurs as well. This will help you build a social connection that is more personal, more real and in the real world.

Let's talk about crafting the perfect self-introduction.

I was formerly from BNI, I'm not sure if you've heard of it, but it stands for Business Networking International, and I was the president of the chapter in my area.

It wasn't easy for me at first, but I figured out that when you are creating a self-introduction you have to be as critical as possible, as concise as possible and as on point as possible.

At the same time, you have to form an identity that becomes relatable, memorable, and easy for others to duplicate.

In this episode, I will be talking about a templatethat I use to craft up my self-introduction, which I believe will help you as well. This is a lot to take in, so I've created a fun sheet for this episode. Be sure to download the fun sheet so that it can guide you along this episode. What you need to do is to go to fempreneursecrets.com/vault, key in your email address and you'll be granted instant access into the secret vault, download the fun sheet and follow through the episode.

Okay, are you ready to get started? Here is the template for success.

Step #1: Break Down What You Do in 3-5 Words

The first thing that you need to do is to break down what you do in three to five words. "Three to five words, what am I going to say about myself? There are too little words!"

Now believe me — when I was given this challenge I was equally as shocked as well, but I figured it out and it was simple. What you need to do is to first start off with your name and then think of like a sexy name for you to call yourself, like what do you identify your service or what you offer with. Like for myself, I introduce myself as, I am Huda, Brand Strategist — so that's three words i.e. Huda, brand, strategist.

In just three words, you are pretty much summing up what you do. Of course, you will want people to be intrigued enough to then communicate with you further, but these three words will give you an overview of what you do.

So look at your fun sheet right now and write down what are the three to five words that you can identify yourself as, starting with your name.

Step #2: Write Down Your Key Offering in One Sentence

The second thing to do is to write what is your key offering in one sentence.

Writing a key offering is not that simple because you need to first know what is it that you are really offering. Like for my case, I am offering a service that is helping brands clarify their message through videos. This is a trademark of my business and I want people to know that this is exactly what I do, so I sum it up in one sentence.

Can you do the same for your business as well? What is your mission or what is it that you really do? And what can your potential clients understand in one sentence?

So think about it. You can start off with "I help", then fill in your potential audience and then what exactly you help out with. Think about it that way and see how you can get one sentence to explain your key offering.

Step #3: Include the Feature & Benefit of Your Offer

The third thing that you need to include in your self-introduction is, what is the feature and benefit of your offering?

What will someone gain by working with you or buying your product or engaging your services? What is the benefit that they will get from your business? What are the features of what you are offering?

So what's the difference between the two? I tend to get asked this question a lot.

FEATURES are what is entailed in your offering, what is entailed in your product, what is entailed in your service. Let's say you are selling a spa, a quality — I don't know, maybe makeup brush — so what is the feature of that? It is spa quality.

What is the BENEFIT of using that spa quality makeup brush? The benefit of using it is that you will have smoother skin after the first use. Something like that.

That is the feature and benefit of your offering.

Basically choose one offering, one feature, one benefit, put it up together and see if you can form two sentences to fit this two. Then, you will get a key offering that is being explained in a very short and successful manner.

Step #4: Identify Who Your Offering Is For

Number four is to identify who this offering of yours should help. If you are doing the makeup brush thing, it's a spa-quality makeup brush that helps you keep your skin smooth after the first use. It would help women who are struggling with itchiness and also struggling with maybe wrinkles on your skin. So putting (gosh my English! I meant placing) this in your self-introduction really helps.

Step #5: Perfectly Close with a Reaffirmation

And then finally, what is the perfect closing? The perfect closing is to reaffirm who you are and what you offer.

Basically repeating what you have just mentioned in number one, which is I'm Huda, Brand Strategist. It creates a nice closure and helps people remember who you really are.

So think about all these five steps and see if you can implement them for your own page and for your self-introduction.

For the fun of it, I am going to read out to you what myself introduction is, how long it takes and if it fits all the requirements that I've set for you as a template for you to use. Okay, are you already? I am targeting for it to be completed in 30 seconds or less. If you want to you can time me and are you all ready to hear my introduction?

All right, let's go.

Hi, my name is Huda and I'm a brand strategist. I help women entrepreneurs create on-goal brand strategies. Hosting a podcast show called Fempreneur Secrets, I empower women entrepreneurs to unleash their business potential. Currently, we are offering a free brand audit worth $200, if you're interested to learn more, speak to me later. This is Huda, Brand Strategist.

So that was my speech for the purposes of today's experiment and exercise. That took me about 20 seconds or less. After I've memorized it, it will get a little bit faster for you to share this introduction.

You want to make it succeed, short, sweet, straight to the point and it is enough for someone to take two sips of coffee. I've tried this before and I noticed that when you are introducing yourself, especially at networking and there's tea or coffee, people tend to ask, "Hey, what do you do? What's your name? What industry are you in?" Questions along those line — while holding a cup of coffee or a cup of tea. And when they are doing just that, what you need to do is to monitor them, make sure they've already prepared their fingers to hold the cup while they are awaiting your answer.

Your challenge is to say your self-introduction before they put it back down. That will be interesting now, wouldn't it?

If you love this episode, be sure to leave a review on apple podcast, it will help me know what type of content you produce for you. Also, if you have any questions that you would like me to answer in our podcasts, go on over to fempreneursecrets.com/podcast to drop those questions.

What do you think?

I'd love to know what you think of this episode. Do you plan on leaving your full-time job soon to start your business? If so, where are you now in that plan? Share with me in the comments below!

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