Each time someone asks, “What do you do?” it’s an opportunity for you to build your Word Of Mouth Woodworking Business. If you are not ready with a strong statement — one that creates a memorable mental picture of your company — you could miss future custom cabinetry and interiors jobs.

Often wood production managers are not prepared with a strong statement. When asked, “What do you do?” I hear statements like, “Oh, I make things out of wood.” What does that mean? Do you make whirly-gigs and walking sticks? Are you building high-end kitchen cabinets or log homes?

Two Tips For Showrooms That Sell During my travels to showrooms around the country, I have run across hundreds of ways to make a great first impression on your prospects. 1. Create a Kitchen. When the prospect opens the cabinet doors, they should see how your design utilizes space. Add frying pans to blind corners, cleaning supplies under the sink and fill the pantry with empty food boxes and cans. People relate to what they know and they need visuals to help them understand where everything fits. Closet showrooms should have hangers and clothes in them. (My thanks to Sandi Kuenne at Great Northern Cabinets in Medford, WI, for this idea.) 2. Show the Accessories. Closet showrooms should have jewelry drawers, hampers, and pull down closet rods. Furniture should have lamps, rugs and accents. Cabinets should have pull out trash cans, cutlery trays and pantry systems. If you show it, you will sell it.

Before They Exit the Lift
The Elevator Speech is the quick prepared statement given when asked, “What do you do?” The term “Elevator Speech” comes from the concept that you can promote your business or idea to anyone in the time it takes for an elevator to go a few floors. The Elevator Speech should encapsulate your company strengths and uniqueness, while creating a mental picture that is easy for the person to remember. The stronger the mental picture the better the chances they will remember you and refer you to their friends.

To decide what your speech should say, first look at your company strengths. If you are having a hard time deciding what that strength might be, just ask a few past customers. What did they find appealing about your work, and why did they buy from you?

Creating a Mental Image
In my business, we have had to create the same mental picture. As independent reps, we say, “Picture a rolltop desk. Now picture a diagram of all its parts — tambour, edging, casters, screws. . . even the glue. We sell all those parts to the woodworkers.” Notice how we create a mental picture of something the customer understands, then expand on their imagination. First the picture of a roll top desk — something they all know and see as a quality item — then the expansion into a physical diagram.

If you love building wood furniture with no particleboard and solid hardwood from local sources, you could say, “I build furniture.” (Boring!) Or you could leave a stronger message in your network of contacts by saying, “I build and design free-flowing furniture from solid hardwoods found right here in town.” If you get a little more time, expand on it and add, “We never use particleboard, or formaldehyde glues. We are the only green furniture maker within six states.”

Maybe your strength is your delivery instead of your product. Instead of saying, “We build cabinets,” leave a stronger mental picture with, “We are the fastest cabinetmaker in town. We design, build, deliver and install cabinets in three weeks. We are the FedEx of cabinets.”

Never miss an opportunity to promote your strengths. Always leave people with a strong image of who you are and what you do. The mental picture of being artistic, green or fast will stick in their minds. They will remember it and recall your company long after they first meet you.

Consultant Rick Hill specializes in helping woodworking companies find new markets and more sales and is founder of WoodReps.Com, a national association of independent woodworking reps. OnPointSales.com.