The Biggest Problem with Your Elevator Pitch
It's not your choice of words. It's not how long it is. It's the idea that you can sell something in an elevator, an email, or a single phone call...
If you had a minute or so with one person and had a chance to tell them what you do or what you sell, could you?
It's a worthwhile exercise in understanding how you serve your best customers and clients. The thought process alone yields better results than what a lot of marketing departments are going to be able to provide sales reps, let alone the right words to deliver. Unfortunately, it's not long after that process ends that the value of this concept starts to diminish very quickly.
The side effect of creating a statement like this lulls you into believing that you can sell your solution in 30 seconds or less. In almost every case, particularly in a B2B role, that's just not true. Still, you work these carefully crafted messages into your cold email and voicemail messages, confident that they'll hit the mark. When they don't, you get frustrated and claim that those prospecting methods don't work. Then you go back to complaining about your lack of leads and how your quota is a joke.
Why are you trying to rush the process? Is there even anything engaging about your little speech? If you're being honest, is it really just a retelling of your offerings as if you're reading a summary of your website?
When is the last time you sold anything in an elevator anyway?
You see, the biggest issue with your short personal commercial is that it tries to skip steps in a process where steps cannot be skipped. It assumes that you can create enough intrigue without earning significant attention or spending any time at all in discovery. It also makes a dangerous assumption that your prospect even understands the type and extent of the problems they have. Hint: they don't, and that's largely what you and your solution are here to solve for.
I don't want you to think about your elevator pitch as a means of making a quick sale. I want you to think of it as a compelling way to start a conversation that may ultimately continue at another time and in another place. You can't make a sale on social media, but when you connect with someone, you can ask for a meeting. A chaotic networking event in a public space is no forum for asking insightful questions that your prospect is not prepared to immediately answer.
Use the opportunity you've been given (or created) to establish the framework for the kind of conversation you'd like to have, don't try to have it right away. With attention spans shortening and so many demands on your prospects, the most effective exchanges will occur when they are given appropriate space and time. Instead of making statements, ask questions.
Don't say, "We create retirement plans based on your financial goals while investing in renewable energy companies."
Instead, ask, "When is the last time you reviewed your retirement portfolio? Is it getting you where you need to go? Do you believe in the companies you're investing in?"
The first statement might be compelling to a few, but there's no reason for most to say anything other than, "That's nice, but I'm all set." The second statement, whether I have an advisor or not, compels me not only to answer the question but to consider new information that I may or may not have realized was valuable until that very moment. There it is... the tension required to create the stimulus to act.
No, a sale has not been made, but now I'm interested in having a discussion with you. Ask me for a meeting to discuss things in further detail, at a time and in a place where we can dig into this issue because it's very important. We're light years ahead of where we were when I stepped onto this elevator with you. Because you took the time and made the effort to engage with me, rather than just talk at me, we can get involved in the buying/selling process and see where it goes from there.
I think a lot can be summed up in the terminology that is used. A commercial is something that is broadcast to as many people as possible, hoping that enough of the right words are used in order to garner a response and a purchase by a few. It's literally a spray and pray approach. Is that really all your capable of? Instead, use your sales story as a framework for creating engagement. Ask a question rather than making a statement as a conversation opener to create intrigue, start more sales processes, and win more business.
Jeff Bajorek
Real. Authentic. Experience.
There’s a big difference between knowing how to sell and being able to. Jeff Bajorek spent over a decade in the field as a top performer. He’s been in your shoes. He knows what it will take. He can help you succeed.
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