The best way to structure your Minute Message around a client case study

Quickly convey your expertise by using a client case study in your 60 second pitch

Using a client case study is absolutely my favourite way to structure a Minute Message. Because when you’re talking about making yourself referral-worthy, it ticks all the boxes.

By talking about problems you’ve solved you show expertise, and it adds credibility by being about a real-life client.

I specialise in producing video case studies for businesses, interviewing a company’s most satisfied clients about the benefits of working with them.

And by editing those videos, I’ve learned a thing or two about how to use similar content to structure a 60 second networking Minute Message.

Start with the problem that you solve

You want your message to be relatable, so that if anyone else in the room is struggling with a similar issue, they’ll resonate with your client’s starting point.

Equally, they may have heard other people complaining about the same situation, so they’ll know to refer them to you.

So quickly outline the job role your customer has (e.g. Marketing Director), and share why they needed to work with you.

Outline what you did to resolve the issue

You don’t need to crazily go into detail on this, but just give a short explanation about the work you did for the client.

This is a good opportunity to share your expertise about why this was the right path to go down for them.

Any details about what makes your service stand out are good to include as well – e.g. completing the work to a really tight deadline.

What has been the end result of your work?

You want to sell the dream of what their personal / business life will look like as a result of solving their issue.

Therefore it’s great to end with the direct transformations your customer has experienced.

If you’ve got a testimonial quote from them, this is the best place to include it – it’ll add more credibility to your claims if it comes from them.

Ask for a referral to similar contacts as your client case study

Make your referral request broad to begin with, capturing some of the trigger phrases that people experiencing the issue may say.

Then narrow it down completely – to a person in the same job role as your case study client, who you suspect is experiencing the same problem.

Even if the other Advocates don’t know that person, it’ll give them a fantastic understanding of the kind of person you work with.

If you’re looking to gather feedback and generate real customer stories, then get in touch to discuss how I can create authentic video case studies by interviewing your clients. It tends to work best if these clients are:

• Part of an industry you’re really targeting
• One of your biggest clients
• An example of a type of work you’d like to do more of

As part of producing video case studies, I can also transcribe the raw interviews, so it’s really easy for you to grab quotes to use as part of your Minute Messages.

Hannah Morris-Quinn is a former BBC journalist, and the videographer behind Stoke-on-Trent based video production company VideoHQ. She’s part of NetworkIN Team Stoke Friday.