The Elevator Pitch

Imagine you walk into a lobby elevator in the Empire State Building. You press floor eighty and the other passenger presses seventy-four. Then you glance up, and to your surprise, you see a top venture capitalist that you've been trying to get a meeting with for months. Even better, it's just you two for the next seventy-floor floors.

What would you do? What would you say? Your answer to these questions is called your "elevator pitch" and it's a 30 second introduction of yourself. I've always believed strongly in the importance of the elevator pitch and the "first impression", and in my trip to China, I saw the best example of its potential that I've ever seen.

During the first day of the conference, everybody was standing up and introducing themselves for 30 seconds. The common introduction was, "I'm very happy to be here. This is my first time in China and its beautiful. My name is John Doe, and my business is... I'm looking forward to good business partnerships." This was a very nice introduction...the first time! However, after 100 times, it got old.

The last person to present did something completely different. He first started off by saying, "My name is John Doe, and I keep executives out of jail (he's a executive leadership coach)." Next, he went to the front of the room and positioned a chair so that he could hurdle over it, which is one of his trademarks, even though he's 62 years old. Immediately, the room got excited. People stood up so they could see. Others positioned themselves to take a photo. After one balk, he made the jump and the room erupted in applause.

The next day I learned that he was awarded a huge contract to work on branding for China. Yes, I'm not exaggerating. Countries have to brand themselves too!

So, if you find yourself on an elevator with somebody you've always wanted to meet, what would your pitch be? What would it say about you and why the person should invest their time and/or money with you? How would it make you different from the 100 other pitches your VIP sees every day.