Resting on your laurels is deadly in an elevator pitch. In this video blog post, I’ll help you to see how to make your experience matter to your listener, no matter what your experience level may be.

Your accomplishments and experience form the basis for your unique value proposition. What’s the best way to maximize your experience and get your listener to say, “Tell me more…” ?

The secret of a great elevator pitch has to do with your focus.

If you are focused on your accomplishments, that’s called “bragging”. Of course, as they say in Texas, “It ain’t bragging if you can do it.” But what you can do is not as important or interesting as what you can do with, through and for OTHERS.

An Elevator Pitch Story

I was meeting a new coaching client for the first time, a high-powered pharmaceutical sales rep. “Chris,” she said, “I’m so glad to meet you! I’ve heard a lot of great things about you. Can you tell me a little bit about yourself?”

Wow! That question is the classic set-up for an elevator pitch. I thought to myself: Ah yes, this conversation is going to be an easy one.

“Well,” I said, “I’m the national elevator pitch champion.”

“That’s great!” she replied. “What’s an elevator pitch?”

 

Bombarding a listener with features and benefits or “why you’re the best” is a strategy from a bygone era. True, what you have to offer is an important part of your elevator speech. But, as I learned from my coaching client, being the best doesn’t mean diddly-squat if you can’t make it meaningful to your listener. There has to be something more than accomplishments, features and functions, if you want your message to matter.

In a traditional sales context, there are three ways to sell something:

1. Features and Benefits: Here’s what it is, here’s what it does. Horsepower, processing speed, pixels and service. (Hopefully, you’ve picked the right features and benefits for your customer – otherwise, this shotgun approach could take a while to find something that matters to your listener).
2. Comparison: we’re the biggest and the best, better than the other guys. We try harder, we are better. (It’s similar to meeting a beautiful woman and telling her that you’re interested because she’s prettier than your ex-girlfriend. Nice.) Sometimes comparisons aren’t the best approach.
3. Resonance:Resonance means “a quality of evoking response”, according to Merriam Webster. The term is used to describe objects vibrating at the same frequency. In this aspect, resonance is a metaphor for two people sharing an idea or concept. This idea of resonance is central to creating agreement, and central to closing the sale.
   
   The father of the human potential movement, George Burr Leonard, talked about how resonance can occur at a cellular level in his book, The Way of Akido: Life Lessons from an American Sensei.

   To paraphrase Leonard’s ideas, science shows us that we can connect with others at our very core…if we know how to do so.

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   The New Elevator Pitch is about resonance.

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   By creating a new method of communication, we create new results. Our outcomes aren’t based on features or benefits, or our past accomplishments, or comparisons. The New Elevator Pitch is about resonance – a message that connects with your audience at a new level of meaning. If that sounds touchy-feely or somewhat less than concrete, here’s how you can know if your message creates resonance:

   When you finish your elevator speech, what does your listener do?

   Does your elevator speech inspire action? Does your listener say, “Tell me more…”?

   If you want to go beyond impressive accomplishments and interesting features, consider how to create a message that matters to your listener. That’s what I call, “resonance”. Does this idea resonate with you?

   Want to know more? Click here to hire Chris Westfall

   You’re invited to learn more about presentations, sales training and branding workshops – available now. Call 214.205.4662 and find out how to put the new elevator pitch to work for you.

   Main image courtesy of photohome_uk, used under creative commons license. Some rights reserved.