My five-year-old daughter meticulously threads the pipe cleaner through the cotton ball, then mumbles under her breath “Daddy, you’re a genius.”
I find it best to take these pronouncements lightly.
After all,
A few minutes earlier,
In a rare burst of parenting,
I withstood a tantrum when I actually told her No,
She couldn’t use glue in her room.
And when she figures out how to stick the cotton ball to the pipe cleaner,
In her room,
Without glue,
She assumes that was my plan all along.
To show her that she could do the project without glue.
Genius.
And it gets me thinking about your Elevator Pitch.
Because genius really is in the eye of the beholder.
My insurance agent solves my previously unsolvable workers compensation problem.
My business lawyer deftly protects my management team from a rogue employee.
My collections agent sends me money I had written off as lost.
To them, it’s commonplace.
Mundane.
Almost boring.
To me,
It’s brilliant.
Genius.
So instead of tuning your Elevator Pitch to what you think is exciting.
Tune it to what’s boring.
To you.
That’s what’s exciting to your prospects.