How long does the average elevator ride last? How many floors up or down is the average elevator ride? What are the odds of having the elevator to yourself? What are the odds you’ll find yourself in the elevator with someone who can change your life? Are the averages and odds different if you are in a Chicago business building elevator than if you are, say, in a hotel elevator in Florida?
Great questions, but unanswerable in many cases. So, I am going to make some assumptions. Let’s assume the average uninterrupted elevator ride lasts one and a half minutes. Let’s assume you have that elevator car to yourself for half that time. Let’s assume that one-quarter of the time the car has someone else in it, that someone can change your life. Add it all up, and maybe, just maybe, if you are on an elevator four times daily, you have a chance to meet that someone once each week.
OK, so forget elevators for a moment. What about the grocery store, the gym, church or synagogue? The moments add up when you have a brief chance to meet that person that can make a difference. And the metaphor for all of those opportunities is the elevator pitch.
What is an elevator pitch, really? I believe it’s the prepared delivery of your message on a spur-of-the-moment, opportunistic basis for which you MUST be absolutely prepared. These moments WILL happen – you just never know when or how. So be prepared for the unexpected and design your delivery of the message long before you need it.
Now back to your minute and a half elevator ride. Thirty seconds go by, and someone gets on. Someone you need to talk to. You are down to sixty seconds. What’s your ice breaker? You can’t wait for someone else to initiate the conversation. You are down to fifty seconds. If your message is all about your startup, can you describe your innovation and business model in fifteen seconds? Is your analogy ready to go? You are now down to thirty-five seconds. What problem does your innovation solve? Do customers care? Twenty seconds to go. Keep in mind what your objective is here: To simply get to a next meeting, call or email. Did you leave time to exchange contact information? Arrgghh…the door is opening, and someone is getting off. Did you get a next step?
Design your story, design your elevator pitch. Practice it. A lot. You won’t use it often, but when you really need it, have it ready to go. You will find that you have all the elements to it, but it requires practice to get those elements into the nutshell of an elevator ride (that’s a crazy mixed metaphor!). As I depicted, get it down to an essential twenty seconds – you can always expound on it if the elevator stalls between floors.
Design it now – don’t wait for the missed opportunity.
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