It’s decision time, and I don’t hesitate. Even though the road ahead looks clear, I save myself 13 minutes by turning left at the Subaru dealership and following the side roads around the Bourne High School to the backside of the rotary. It’s not my finely tuned sixth sense for traffic. It’s a sign with the times.
Bourne Bridge. 5 miles. 18 minutes.
There are new signs all over Cape Cod this year.
Electronic signs showing miles and minutes to key landmarks.
It used to be a guessing game.
That final mile to the bridge could take one minute.
Or thirty-five.
Now I no longer have to guess.
I know whether the five minutes on the back roads will save me time.
And it gets me thinking about your Elevator Pitch.
Because most traffic reports are general enough to be meaningless.
You’re not on most of those roads.
And even if you do hear a report about your particular road,
The information is either too late to help you avoid the traffic,
Or so early that it’s misleading about what will be going on when you actually get there.
Yet most people take this traffic copter approach to their Elevator Pitch.
Giving people lots of information that has nothing to do with their current business situation.
Want to get their attention?
Talk about how long it’s going to take to get to this bridge, right now.
The broader your Elevator Pitch, the less people will think it has anything to do with them.
But name their specific situation…
Your kid’s off to college in two years.
You’re embarrassed to show your website to your prospective clients.
You lost another day of revenue because your work truck broke down. Again.
You… well, you get the idea.
Instead of talking about every kind of traffic they could encounter.
Talk about Route 28.
Five miles from the Bourne Bridge.