What better way to get across an example of how we can win buy-in to our ideas . . . than to share this blog post from EO-London President Jennifer Jansen who wrote about her response to my recent presentation for them.

Thanks Jen ( http://www.sixdegreespr.com ) for giving permission to share this.

It was grand fun seeing those cerebral sparks flying, and I’m glad to know you and your fellow EO members found our program intriguing and useful.

“OK, I’ll admit it. When, as the learning chair of the UK’s Entrepreneurs’ Organization, I agreed to host a speaker who professed to be able to teach us how to sell anything to anyone in 60 seconds or less, I was skeptical. But Sam Horn didn’t disappoint.

Imagine a group of 20 highly-strung entrepreneurs and members of their teams – Blackberries and iPhones buzzing, minds racing, faces blank.

Sam Horn – a refreshingly unconventional American in a trademark black hat takes to the floor. The skeptics agree to give her her 60 seconds.

Fast-forward four hours. The room is alive with energy, people wondering where the time has gone. New ideas hatched, new friendships formed, and traditional ways of thinking changed forever.

Sam Horn is full of inspirational stories, thought-provoking quotes, and frameworks for putting her theory in to practice. And she shares these with the generosity and confidence of someone who’s built a career out of helping people succeed.

Have you ever wondered how on earth you can differentiate your own brand when competitors are all doing broadly the same thing, in the same way?

Ever felt like the last thing you wanted to do in a meeting was a standard PowerPoint presentation, but couldn’t come up with an alternative? Or, how to make a ‘boring’ product interesting to absolutely anyone?

Well, I have. And what I learned will help me not only in the continuous improvement of Six Degrees, but in the way I and the team think about client challenges and how best to approach them.

Here’s an example. At Six Degrees we’re pretty proud of our elevator pitch: ‘We make clients famous’. Simple to understand, and hopefully compelling.

But it’s a statement. It is a one-way communication. Sam’s view is that people should aim to create an ‘elevator conversation’ rather than an ‘elevator speech’.

So in the context of the story above, we’ve tweaked ours. “Have you ever heard of Skype?” To which most people these days will say “Of course!” “Well, we helped make it a household name.”

Brilliant. Now we have the start of a conversation. And where there’s conversation, there’s opportunity.

Interestingly, Sam’s philosophy simply replicates what we advocate in the online world — creating conversations — in our offline lives. It just makes sense.

I could write a full article about what we learned yesterday, but that’s not the point. I suspect a lot of what Sam says is in her latest book, POP! And I suspect that the best way to learn from Sam Horn is to see her in action (no, I won’t be getting a commission for this!).

Let’s just say that for many years to come, I and the team who were with me yesterday won’t soon forget Sam, in the black hat.”

Thanks again Jen.

Would you like specific ways to win buy-in to your priority project?

Contact us at info@SamHorn.com for details about our upcoming tele-seminar on WIN BUY-IN: GET ANYONE INTRIGUED IN ANYTHING IN 60 SECONDS.

Like Jen, are you a little skeptical?

All I can say is that this program has been a hit at the British Airways Face2Face Competition in NYC and has received perfect 10’s from discerning corporate audiences around the world.

Be sure to have a priority project or upcoming communication in mind when you register for our tele-seminar so you can instantly apply these innovative techniques to capture the favorable interest of your decision-makers. Go to samhorn.com/speaking/calendar for dates and times on Sam’s events.

Sam hits the ground running, and within minutes of hearing her one-of-a-kind techniques, you’ll quickly understand why Sam’s unique approach has helped clients land multi-million dollar deals, command the attention and respect of their target customers, and win buy-in to what they care most about.
Check out Sam’s Store at samhorn.com/shop