'Tis the Season to Turn a Make Me Puke Elevator Pitch into WOW!

There are more business networking elevator pitches that make me want to find an exit door sooner than later than there are ones that have me say, “Wow, how do you do that?” You know the kind? They make you want to puke; they are all about “me, me, me” without a breath, without looking you in the eyes, without stopping to ask you a question, without stuffing a business card in your face — are you with me? Why bother to remake your pitch into a WOW? Because ’tis the season to go from “So what?” to “How do you do that?”

1. People are thinking, “What does this mean for me?” – Those turns-my-stomach kind of elevator speeches focus on what the communicator wants to say. Yes of course, you are networking to sell your product, service or yourself! But starting out talking about me,me,me and the other person isn’t going to invite a conversation. It’s conversations that we want networking to lead to.

2. People get consumed with assume. – Because you know your product, service or of course yourself, inside and out, it’s highly likely you assume others also know what you know. Think back to when you first started your business, when even you had to learn about it. Craft your elevator pitch from that position – you knew little to nothing. What was the point of excitement that grabbed you? You want what you say to grab the customer from the point of them knowing little.

3. You have a one-size fits all pitch. – Because you think everyone is your prospective customer, you have one elevator pitch- and it’s usually headed down. By starting off your networking conversations with a question or two to learn about the person you are talking with, you can usually quickly craft something more directly related to them specifically.

4. You try to tell the person everything. – You rush, you ramble or you sound like a recording. Networking is a chance for a conversation opener that leads you to more conversation. It’s an early step in the business relationship.

There are likely more reasons why you want to turn your elevator pitch into something more attractive. In the end, if people who you are meeting aren’t interested in that next step with you, that’s the biggest reason! Take a hard, deep look at how you feel about your networking and how your networking is working for getting more prospective clients, connectors and Joint Venture Partners. Then you’ll know whether you’re causing a puke or wetting their whistle. There’s no better holiday gift you can give.

Care to comment on any reasons why an elevator pitch would make you puke? Or on the other end, what would make one leave someone wanting more?