Elevator Pitch is Tougher than Ever
The elevator pitch... a phrase that describes what you might say -- quickly -- to someone with whom you normally wouldn't get much or any face time when you want to convince him or her of something, such as hiring you or your firm, or buying into your idea, whatever it may be. You're riding in an elevator with that person, whose decision can have a major impact on your life. You have 20 or 30 seconds or, depending what floor you're going to and how slow the elevator is, maybe a minute.
The person you want to pitch has nothing else to do except stare at the floor numbers as they change, so you have a captive audience.
Not any more.
The days of the elevator pitch are gone. They died quietly over the past two or three years, as more of us got iPhones, Droids and other smart phones.
I got onto my elevator this afternoon after lunch. Two other people got on with me. Even before the door could close, all of us had our phones in our hands, checking email, texts, stock quotes or the weekend weather forecast. Not one of us looked up; not at the floor numbers nor at each other.
To try to strike up a conversation in that environment might be considered rude... or certainly intrusive and perhaps not well-received.
So much for the elevator pitch. Unless you can come up with an app that can instantly send your elevator pitch to the phone of someone else who's in the elevator with you.
Hmmm.
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