The elevator pitch

You walk into an elevator of a 30 story-skyscraper and who is standing next to you? Bill Gates! Here is your chance to talk to him about your fantastic idea, your business, yourself. The door closes. How much time do you have? You don’t know. You don’t know whether Mr. Gates is going to get out on the third floor, the fifteenth floor, or whether he’ll accompany you all the way to the top. You don’t know whether you have ten seconds, half a minute, or longer.

So what do you do? You start talking. You try to get his attention. You give him just enough information for him to want to know more and not enough for him to walk away. If you can trigger his mind enough in the first few seconds, he’ll hang on, if not, he’ll zone out.

I am talking about the elevator pitch, also called elevator speech, presentation or story.

As Chris O’Leary describes in his book Elevator Pitch Essentials, an elevator pitch is a communication tool but also a sales and a teaching tool. It is created to bring your message across and to catch the attention of your audience in a very short period of time. It is just a primer, a trigger, only meant to get the conversation started. Think about the TV series “Dragon’s Den” where entrepreneurs have only one minute to present themselves to potential investors.

I like this approach; it’s so true when you think of it. People don’t have time anymore to listen for hours or read through pages of information. They’ll only spend time to get to know you if they’re convinced you can bring something interesting to the table, something that is going to benefit their business.

Obviously, the elevator pitch is not just for when you unexpectedly bump into someone but it is used at networking events, on the phone, in meetings, etc.

I applied the elevator pitch to my mailings. Instead of sending out a sales letter accompanied by a brochure, I send out a catching tagline and a business card. I follow that up with a phone call. Most people remember what I sent them, which wouldn’t be the case if I had sent them just another dull brochure.

I usually have no problem connecting with people. I am passionate about what I do and that shows. I build long-term relationships. People like me as a person and that’s why they want to do business with me. I just don’t like the sleazy sales techniques. I am a fan of the elevator pitch principle but I don’t think I have to go and write down my speech and practice it 3 times a day in front of the mirror.

I guess I am one of the few recruiters out there who doesn’t think recruitment is all about sales.

Recruitment is about people, about understanding one’s motives and drives, about finding that perfect match.
Sales is about sales. 

Tweet This Post 

Related posts:

1. It’s all about expectations..
2. The reference check: a valuable sales tool