TJ Walker answers a viewer's question about preparing short, memorable introductions for telephone interviews and networking events. He emphasizes tailoring your one-line introduction to the listener's interests (focus on audience, not yourself), gives concrete sample scripts for media and speaker-audience contexts, and includes a direct call-to-action (offer a free resource and request their card).
Chapters
One of my regular viewers on Facebook writes in with the following question. This is from Govind on Facebook. Hello, sir. Been watching your videos. Really like the detail you give. Tomorrow I have a telephone interview. Would you please help me with some tips on how to introduce myself? How should I respond when someone says, tell me about yourself? Now, this can happen on telephone interviews. It can happen if you're at a chamber of Commerce event and they say, okay, everybody stand up and just introduce yourself for 20 seconds. The problem most people have is they feel awkward and it's like, oh, my name ranks serial. My name is John Smithers. I'm a senior partner at Dewey, Howe and Cheatham, and we specialize in litigation, blah, blah, civil and criminal, blah, blah. And they sit down and it's completely unmemorable. It's abstract, it's generic, and nobody has any idea what the person said two seconds later. My advice is think about who the person is you're speaking to and what would be the most interesting thing to them about what you do. So, for example, if I'm at a National Speakers association meeting, people often stand up and introduce themselves. I've got to seize my audience, size them up. I realize most of them are already good speakers, but they might not have any experience with the media. So if it's my turn to stand up, this is how I do it. Imagine you have to go on the Today show. Are you certain that you'll know how to look your best, sound your best, come across completely confident and get the exact quotes you want? When another reporter is looking at the story and writing it up. Hi, I'm TJ Walker. I help people look their best in the media and get the quotes they want. If you want more tips on this, I have a free book that I'll give you. Media Training A to Z. Give me your card at the end of the meeting. Boom. That's it. That's all I say. People remember it. They also come up and give me their card and we build a relationship that way. My message is different when I speak to different audiences. So that's what I really need you to think of is what's the one thing that's going to be most interesting to the person or people you're speaking to and focus on that. Focus on your audience, not yourself. Then people will want to know more about you. I'm TJ Walker. I help people speak their best. If you'd like more information or you want to improve this skill, give me a call or check out below. We have online training courses, monthly public workshops in New York City, and private training workshops conducted all over the world.
