Common Sense - Elevator Pitch

Several weeks ago, I had the opportunity to be a co-host of InTimeTV's "Association Executive Today" an online program addressing those issues that might be keeping ExD's awake at night. www.intimetv.com One of the guests, Steve Yastrow, discussed his book, Brand Harmony and We: the Ideal Customer Relationship.

Steve believes and I totally agree that:

"Every time you interact with a customer, three things can happen:

• Your relationship gets better
• Your relationship stays the same
• Your relationship gets worse"

A major point Steve discussed was "Ditch the Pitch" again which I totally agree. In my thinking and experience, the "elevator pitch"must go - now. I have no idea how many times I have been instructed to create one of these things by someone, other than a common sense driven salesperson and they never work.

Have you every really tried this elevator pitch thing? Try it sometime, and watch the eyes of the person, watch them glaze over while shaking their head pretending to listen. Did they learn anything? Will they follow up with you? I doubt it. Now ask yourself, if I was in their shoes, how would I react? Would I have learned anything? Was there a call to action for me? Will I act? My experience has shown me that none of these things happen.

So my common sense approach is to use that time and that moment to engage in a genuine dialog or even better, engage in a genuine listening that will allow you to gain the needed insight for the next conversation - the one, in my experience, that really counts

This elevator pitch thing is kind of like the Bett Midler's line when she states:

" Okay, enough talking about me honey. Let's talk about you. "
"What do you think about me."

Maybe what is needed are listening questions developed instead of elevator pitch's?