I’m NOT a fan of elevator pitches.
Heresy coming from a marketing guy, right?
Yes, I know EVERYONE tells you you need an elevator pitch.
It may be the 1st thing you learned at that networking group you joined when you started in business.
(The second thing you learned is the way most people network doesn’t work – but that’s for another day)
But, have you ever noticed…
Nobody likes giving them.
And nobody likes listening to them.
They don’t make sense for us in the professional services world.
Michael Port says it best “Book Yourself Solid”:
“The elevator pitch was born so that the entrepreneur could pitch an idea to a venture capitalist or angel investor in the hopes of receiving funding, not for the service professional to try to build a relationship of trust with a potential client.”
I couldn’t agree more…
You don’t need an elevator pitch.
You need to be able to have a conversation about what you do.
Not recite a clever monologue, timed out to fill the space between the lobby and the 5th floor.
Rather, you want to talk WITH people. Not AT them.
And you want to be having those conversations on the RIGHT ELEVATOR.
Put another way, you want to put your offer in front of people who:
- know they have a need
- want your help and
- are willing and able to pay for your help.
Do you remember the 9-year-old girl scout that sold 300+ boxes of cookies outside the CBD shop in 6 hours?
Do you think the key to her success was a clever elevator speech?
Or was it because she was on the right elevator?
Michael Port thinks we in professional services should kill the elevator speech.
I agree.
I’m not going to ask you to kill your elevator speech. You wouldn’t even if I did.
But I will tell you if you spend more time getting on the right elevator, you will make more sales.
Want to brainstorm ways to get on the right elevator? Contact me here.
