In 10 Seconds; Go!

Arh, Kylie. Kylie, Kylie, Kylie. On the interview milkround to promote her latest album she truly shone in her Sky News outing. With the World Cup in full swing, football came up. It seems she watches.

The questioner asked if she knew what the offside rule was. It’s a guy thing. We joke that no girl knows it. It’s part of our battle of the sexes play. Although gamely trying to explain, she didn’t quite get anywhere near it. Then, chuckling, she challenged her interviewer,

Okay in ten seconds tell me the offside rule… Go!

He stumbled worse than she had! She milked the moment. Lovely. Instantly I blurted out my explanation:

be no farther forward than level with the penultimate player (defender or attacker)

But then again, I did qualify as a ref aged 14.

What a great point Kylie’s exchange made though. Most solution selling involves getting complex points across with stunning simplicity.

• What’s your most commonly required point?
• What’s the most difficult one to get across?
• What’s the most complicated?

Especially if the answer to each is the same one, then how do you get it across in ten seconds?

Ten seconds is a surprisingly long time. Normal conversation can hear you splurt out 200 words. Presentation speech can reduce this by upto half. So that’s anywhere between 15 and 30 words in those ten seconds.

Sit down, write your point out in these many words.

Then practise them out loud. Imagine you’re in front of Kylie.

Make sure you impress her. She wants you to.