Doing a cold call, the president said, “I’ll give you 15 seconds to make your point.” (By the way, he’s the one who gave me the title for our Monday newsletter “15 Seconds – enough time to make a difference.”) Point made.

I’d recommend reading Your Attention, Please to learn how to do what authors Paul Brown and Alison Davis call the “high concept”. That’s a term used by Hollywood scriptwriters. In 25 words or less, writers must clearly convey their story idea to the producer.

How would you describe your service or product this quickly? For example, our Sales Posse “makes selling fun, 30 seconds at a time”. The TV hit 24 is “fast paced action drama that takes place in a real time, twenty-four hour period”.

Your first fifteen seconds can launch a career. Be ready.