I pause while dicing an onion as my three-year-old runs at me with tears in her eyes waving my cell phone in the air.
“Where my cousins?”
She’s been chatting with them on the phone.
I hear her say goodbye several times.
She never means it.
She’s keeps right on chatting.
Until the twelfth time she says “Ok so goodbye”
And her cousins comply.
Tears.
We call her cousins back
To let them know
That while she said goodbye
She didn’t really mean it.
And it gets me thinking about your Elevator Pitch.
Because without even knowing it, most Elevator Pitches encourage prospects to…
Do nothing.
The typical Elevator Pitch ends like an implicit goodbye.
Shutting down the conversation.
Making it harder to restart that conversation
Than it would have been to keep it going in the first place.
So instead of ending with a goodbye like:
“My name is Andy and I’m an Elevator Pitch Coach with ImprovAndy.”
Give your prospects an explicit reason to keep in touch.
Here are two examples:
1. Offer to exchange something of value to them for their contact information:
“If you’re interested in more Elevator Pitch Tips, just hand me your card and I’ll add you to my email newsletter”
2. Teach them how to identify qualified prospects for you:
“A great referral for me is a business association or networking group that brings in keynote speakers.”
What reason do you give prospects to keep in touch with you?