The elevator pitch, not always your best foot forward

Business leaders preach that the perfect elevator pitch is one of the most effective ways to build new relationships and reach new clients. A lot of time and training is spent crafting, molding and evolving an elevator pitch in order to deliver a concise description of your company in a way that relates to and interests others. However, many leaders focus on the wrong aspects, which only delays the connection and comes across as a sales pitch.

Start a conversation. Instead of just jumping into your pitch when asked the question, “So what do you do?” begin asking questions to give context and generate interest. A great introduction would include questions like “Have you read the latest New York Times article on green technologies? This is something we’re really passionate about.” After you place context around your industry and share a little about your organization, ask similar questions to form a naturally flowing conversation instead of a sales pitch.

Don’t recite your resume. It is very common to begin listing bullet points of what you do throughout a typical day, what accounts you’re responsible for, how many people you manage, your past experience, etc. Many people think that this is the way to get others who share the same responsibilities and experiences to quickly form a connection with you. While this might lead you into flowing conversations about work life, it only delays the discovery time to determine if you would collaborate well together.  

Focus on company values. Business owners tend to first describe what their company does, what products it makes, how it differs from its competitors, etc. However, we learned from Simon Sinek at Inspirational Leadership 2011 that many leaders fail to articulate why they do what they do. Sinek states that great, inspiring leaders communicate from the inside out in order to connect with others at the foundational level of what they believe and why their organization exists.

What information do you share when first meeting other business leaders? How has your strategy for making meaningful connections evolved?