Not Getting a Rise out of your Elevator Speech?

Photo by alexia.

Read a few books and websites with marketing advice and you’ll soon encounter a discussion of the “elevator speech,” the compact little monologue you’re supposed to have prepared to deliver at a moment’s notice at networking opportunities and chance encounters.

The theory is that you should be able to present yourself effectively to a complete stranger in the time it would take you to share a ride in an elevator. Whether that is thirty seconds or a minute, or even slightly longer, you are supposed to distill the essence of who you are, what you do, and what you offer into an irresistible mini-pitch that opens up opportunities for you with new contacts.

Great idea. In fact, the only things wrong with it are:

1. the basic concept and expectations, and
2. its execution by most freelancers.

One Miracle, Coming Up

The elevator speech is too often presented as a silver bullet that will suddenly boost your marketing effectiveness to staggering new heights. People work hard on these little talks, with the expectation that if they get them just right, they will bring them a lot of business.

Not likely. A really good elevator speech will bring you some opportunities to pursue business. After your minute or two of laying out all your charms and benefits to your prospect, you may earn the opportunity to talk to them some more, and that’s a great outcome.

But you generally aren’t going to meet a stranger at a networking event, tell them about yourself in 90 seconds, and walk away with a promise of a contract. That’s miracle territory, but many people adopt the elevator speech approach with the (unspoken) assumption that that’s the goal.

The goal of your elevator speech should be to start a conversation, and get permission to continue it. Another goal is to determine whether someone is a genuine prospect. If a new contact is highly unlikely to need what you offer, the sooner you figure that out, and the less time you waste on that prospect, the better.

More Ears, Less Mouth

The biggest problem with the elevator speech concept is that it is a speech. It is a brief lecture you give to your prospective new contact about the wonders that are you.

Now, I’ll wager that you know several people–perhaps you are even related to a few–who are good at giving lectures about themselves. Do you look forward to being on the receiving end of those speeches?

No, and neither does your prospect. Your best opportunities for making connections with a new contact lie in letting the other person do more of the talking. To put it simply, any elevator speech in which your audience asks nothing more than, “So, what do you do?” Is a waste of time.

Ideally structured, your first conversation with a new contact can include several exchanges–yes, you have to ask questions–in just a couple of minutes.

Who cares what you do?

The most common mistake in crafting effective elevator speech is focusing on what you do, or what you are. “I am a web designer, I’m a writer, I’m an instructional designer, I teach people better communication skills, I coach executives in developing their direct reports, blah blah blah…”

Here’s a secret: your best prospects don’t much care what you do for a living, and the people who are excited to talk about what you do are probably not very good prospects.

Your best prospects are people who have a fairly clear idea that something is wrong, or that something could be improved, in the way they do their own business. If that problem is one that you can address, and you can show them that connection, you have a strong prospect. But it starts with their needs, not with what you have to offer.

On the other hand, the easiest conversations come with people who are just like us. Techies talk to techies, writers talk to writers, designers talk to designers. We love those conversations because we get to talk about what we do with people who understand what we are talking about.

But that’s not who we are selling to, in most cases. Our best sales opportunities come from people who do not have the same skills we do, who need to get outside help to solve a problem precisely because they can’t solve it themselves.

Use a Rifle, Not a Shotgun

Many of us freelancers provide a range of services to a variety of clients with a spectrum of needs. One of the hardest things for us to do is to focus on a particular need and service to fit a specific client or prospect.

Who can resist the temptation to throw in every single thing you can think of when asked “what you do”? But your prospect doesn’t want to wade through a whole laundry list of possible services to find something that fits his or her needs. Your prospect wants to hear a more focused message for the problems they face.

The good news is that if you are asking questions instead of giving speeches, if the prospect is talking more, you can more quickly identify the particular service or skill you can bring to address their most pressing needs.

Change Your Focus

Don’t let your elevator speech leave you stranded on the ground floor.

Look for opportunities to engage prospects in conversations about their problems and needs. Spend more time listening and responding to what they say, instead of giving them a laundry list of your services. Aim for getting a conversation started that you can follow up on, get permission to continue, and forget about winning the business in one fell swoop.

It takes a lot of practice to be able to start this kind of conversation at a moment’s notice. But the best delivery of a speech won’t take you nearly as high as a true conversation with your prospect, however brief.