“Were you speeding?” my wife asks helpfully as the state cop pulls up on my right, and even if I couldn’t hear him yelling at me through two closed windows at highway speeds, it’s clear by his gestures that he wants me to pull over.
He drops back.
I signal and pull into the middle lane.
Then signal again.
And pull into the right hand lane.
Then, just before I signal again
To pull over onto the shoulder
And take my lumps
I glance to my left
And see the cop glaring at me
As he speeds on by.
Huh?
In my experience
If a cop starts yelling
There’s going to be some paperwork.
Not this time.
Mad cop sped off.
And it gets me thinking about your Elevator Pitch
Because my best guess
And it’s only a guess
Because I’m never planning
To track down this cop
And find out for sure.
My best guess
Is that he pulled up behind me
While I was enjoying a quiet moment
Using cruise control,
Listening to music on Bluetooth,
As my kids slept.
And since the back of the car was
Stuffed with stuff
I didn’t see him
And he got frustrated
That I wouldn’t let him pass.
Now, there are plenty of options between
Waiting for me to notice
And pulling up alongside to yell.
He could have flashed his lights
He could have touched his siren
He even could have honked his horn.
I would have noticed
And apologetically moved out of the way.
Yet, instead of communicating
He gets frustrated and yells.
And I know so many people
Who give their Elevator Pitch once
Then get frustrated by the lack of sales.
As though it’s the other person’s job to notice you.
No.
Your Elevator Pitch is
Catching people’s attention.
The right people.
To start the right conversations.
The kind of conversations that
Lead to sales.
Yes,
Sales in business networking come from
Communicating over time.
Getting to know people.
Developing trust.
Your Elevator Pitch is not a one-time event.
It’s the start of a process.
The process of business networking.