“His name is the least interesting thing about him”

Detective Chin Ho Kelly returns to the Hawaii Five-O squad room after working a case with MacGyver.

MacGyver, of urban legend, is the guy who saves the day by repurposing common household items: he makes a taser out of an iron, or a nail gun out of duct work, or an impressive explosion out of whatever you have crammed under your kitchen sink.

So Detective Kelly returns to the Five-O squad room a little starry-eyed and mentions that he worked with “Angus” MacGyver and everyone snickers.

“Angus?!?! Like the beef?”

“Believe me,” Detective Kelly chastises them, “his name is the least interesting thing about him.”

It’s true.

And it gets me thinking about your Elevator Pitch.

Because, for other people, your name is the least interesting thing about you.

Yet how does almost everyone start their Elevator Pitch?

“Hello! My name is…”

The only person who will stop and pay attention to that opening line is someone who shares your name!

Did you ever notice that?

How your name floats across a room full of animated conversation and smacks you right between the eyes.

No matter how deep you are in conversation, you hear your name.

But no one else has that reaction to your name.

So to be memorable it’s important to connect your name to something.

To something that matters to them.

It doesn’t make sense to list off every name in the room.

So pick one person in the audience.

Just kidding.

An effective Elevator Pitch resonates with lots of people.

What resonates with lots of people?

Specifics.

People’s names won’t work, but locations, occupations, company names, and unusual combinations will.

“I help people buy and sell homes” won’t connect.

But “I help people buy homes in Brookline” will connect with people who live in Brookline, used to live in Brookline, know someone who lives in Brookline, or ever drove through Brookline.

“I work in health insurance” will incite a mad dash for the exits.

But “I help insurance companies enroll healthy subscribers” will cause people to think of the healthy people they know.

You get the idea.

Your name is the most interesting word to you.

Your Elevator Pitch should include words that are interesting to other people.

Want to get better at describing what you do? Turn to page 29 in the Elevator Pitch Handbook, or set up a complimentary 30 minute phone call.