Hi, I'm Tim... Introducing yourself effectively

Hi, I’m Tim.

I trained as a designer, and ultimately ran my own consultancy, which I grew to 100 people across London, Chicago and Singapore, before my partner and I sold it.

Nowadays, I provide Growth Advice to people running their own design businesses, and Commercial Skills training to their teams.

That’s my 30+ years of professional experience summarised in two sentences.

It’s the introduction I use when I meet new people. More or less.

We all know the scenarios.

You’re at an event, meeting new people and needing to introduce yourself quickly and casually.

Or you’re in a meeting, dreading your turn as everyone goes round the room delivering short introductions.

You feel self-conscious. Wondering how you’ll sound as impressive as everyone else. Or simply working out what the heck you’re going to say.

A good professional introduction isn’t about having the most impressive answer when someone asks what you do.

It’s about helping people understand who you are, what you know, and how you might be useful to them.

That matters whether you run an agency, lead a team, or are earlier in your career and starting to build your own professional network.

Here are four things worth getting right.

1. Short and natural

Your introduction should be easy to understand and easy to remember.

That matters for you, so you can deliver it comfortably. But it matters even more for the people you meet.

A good introduction quickly establishes your credibility. Not for your ego’s sake, but because it sets you up for better conversations later.

Write down a version you’re happy with. Perhaps have a very short version for those quick encounters, and a slightly fuller one for a meeting or event. You might even print it out and carry it with you.

At its most basic, a professional introduction may only need to be your job title, or perhaps:

“I’m a [insert type of] designer at…”

“I run a consultancy that…”

“I lead the strategy team at…”

This isn’t your life story. You should be able to tell when it’s too long. You’ll start to feel self-conscious, or worse, see people glazing over.

Use plain language, avoiding jargon. It shouldn’t sound like your CV, or like you’re reciting a script.

Practise it too. Something that reads well on a screen can feel awkward when you actually say it out loud.

Be selective about what you include. You don’t need to mention every qualification, past job or responsibility. Trying to do so is usually what makes an introduction sound over-rehearsed or vague.

2. Relevant and meaningful

The best introductions focus on the person listening, not just the person speaking.

That might sound surprising, but it’s probably the most important point here.

Communicate your value to the person you’re speaking to.

Your goal isn’t simply to describe yourself. A professional introduction should communicate your value to the person you’re speaking to.

People often get this wrong in one of two ways.

The first is to list their whole career, hoping something in there will sound impressive.

The second is to be so broad that they say very little at all:

“I help businesses grow” or “I work in design.”

Neither gives the other person much to respond to.

Instead, think about what they might care about, then include the most relevant part of your experience. That may be a particular sector, type of work, challenge or professional interest.

Your aim is to engage them and give them a reason to ask a follow-up question.

It could be as simple as saying you work mainly with healthcare clients, that you specialise in UX design, or that you’re interested in how creative businesses grow.

You’re not trying to close a deal in the first thirty seconds. You’re simply opening the door to a more useful conversation.

3. Common ground and personalised

Shared experience is a really useful shortcut.

It might be a company you’ve both worked at, clients you’ve worked with, a place you studied, or people you both know.

This builds credibility, but it also creates familiarity, shortening the distance between you.

Of course, you won’t always know much about the person you’re meeting. But often you can work out who they are, or at least what may be important to them.

That means you can vary your introduction slightly.

In my introduction above, I explain that I trained as a designer. That matters to many of the people I meet, because they did too. It establishes some common ground and tells them I understand their world.

But that’s the broadest version I use.

When I’m meeting people involved in physical product design, I add that I studied Industrial Design. For people in transportation, I mention that was the particular focus of my degree. For people really in the know, I tell them it was at Coventry.

When I’m meeting a non-designer, I may not mention it at all.

All those versions are true. They’re simply tuned to the person I’m meeting.

That’s different from trying to be all things to all people, or changing completely your story depending on who is in front of you. The underlying introduction stays the same. You’re just choosing the most relevant detail to bring forward.

4. Easy to repeat

A good introduction should also make it easy for other people to introduce you.

Think about the simple version you’d like someone else to use when they introduce you to a colleague, client or contact.

That’s another reason to keep it clear, concise and memorable.

It’s also worth thinking about the language you use to describe yourself. Official job titles are not always the most useful ones to use externally.

For example, if you’re early in your career, you may have “Junior” in your job title. But you don’t need to mention it when introducing yourself to a client, prospect or new contact. Nor should your colleagues when they introduce you.

The point isn’t to overstate your experience. It’s simply to make sure the way you describe yourself helps people understand what you do, without unnecessarily diminishing your credibility.

Use it

Once you’ve created an introduction you’re comfortable with, get out there and use it.

I’ve spoken and written a lot about the value of getting out from behind the laptop and meeting people. You never know where a conversation or chance encounter may lead.

Having a pre-prepared professional introduction you can rely on makes those situations an awful lot easier.

And it means that, when the right opportunity comes along, you’re less likely to waste it trying to work out what to say.


What’s your best advice for introducing yourself professionally?

If you or your team members would like more help building confidence in these situations, take a look at my Growing your network training course.

It’s the most accessible and affordable course in my Commercial Skills for Creatives programme.