Thank God Sam Horn wrote the book POP because owning it saved me from having to write down every word she spoke at the conference I attended last week in Waltham, MA. I knew that I would be able to look up the gems she shared and spend time mulling them long after she finished her talk.

One phrase that particularly resonated for me, Sam dubbed the ’empathy telescope.’ She related a story about a sinking ship where the crew was rescued, but shortly after the sound of barking reminded the now-saved sailors that a dog had been left on-board. Long story short, the world rallied to save this one animal. “Why,” asked so many, “is so much energy being focused on this one dog when there are strays filling pet shelters all over the country?” The answer, according to Sam, is that we are not able to stand in the shoes of thousands, but when the predicament of one is brought to our attention, our ’empathy telescope’ zooms into action.

How does this apply to you? She immediately went into the self-introduction that everyone dreads–the elevator speech–and how to make it relevant to your prospects. By telescoping in on exactly what you do, your message is more powerfully communicated. I jotted down one of my client’s names to use in my future 30-second commercials. Let me try it out on you; then you can hear it right from Kate’s lips in her longer version.

Prospect: “So, what do you do, Jane?”

Jane: You know how people have dreams or visions of where they want to take their business? Well, what I do is hold that vision, like Kate Eisemann’s for a photography studio outside her home, and coach her to take specific and scary actions towards having her dream, which she did. Within 4 months was in her own dream studio (in the video below) with her work hanging on the walls.

If you don’t believe me, here’s Kate telling that story:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9ossf9NdC8&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0]