Like, immediately.
Kill it. Make it disappear. RIP. I won’t tell anyone where it’s buried. Instead, we’re going to do something different…
I’m writing this after some impromptu motivation while watching a recording of a group coaching session earlier today.
Here’s what went down:
The (highly experienced) coach leading the session asked everyone in the Zoom room a simple yet often-posed asked question:
“What is the one thing holding you back from getting more clients?”
Among a few answers, someone says:
“It’s talking about myself. I hate doing it. I struggle to sound genuine when I answer anyone who asks about what I do, and I know it’s stopping me from signing more clients.”
Yep. I get it.
If you’ve ever had to talk about your business or yourself in a business context, you’ll know how difficult and weird it can feel. I empathised.
Then the coach replies:
“Ahhhaaa, yes – the dreaded elevator pitch! Who else here struggles with their elevator pitch?”
The initial responder nods on camera enthusiastically, like they’ve had an enormous breakthrough. The rest of the room erupts into hundreds of digital claps. Annnnd it was at that point that I tuned out.
The suggestion that the challenge around potential client relationship-building should be distilled into a “problem with your elevator pitch” had me faceplantin’ my keyboard.
Firstly, I have lots of word issues. And something about the word “pitch” makes my brain melt.
I think this one comes from my time running a creative agency, where spending astonishing amounts of people-hours and dwollars preparing to pitch for the next contract was supposedly “how it’s done” if you want to get clients. Yo. The nineties called…they want their business strategy back. You have to show up and schmooze and jargon-ify (again, not a word, but I made it up to perfectly illustrate my point here) and show the client why you’re better than every other agency invited to pitch while attempting to mask your visible desperation.
Nightmare.
I couldn’t ever get with the program as the agency owner, so I vetoed the pitching thing and instead looked for ways to position my agency where potential clients couldn’t compare us to competitors. I talk about that more in this post.
Standing out and championing what makes your business different is the name of the new game.
But the more I think about my dislike for the concept of pitching, the more I realise it probably runs deeper than that.
Before I ran a creative agency, I was a working dancer and choreographer in the monstrously competitive entertainment industry. To get any dance gig, you needed to audition, which is the performing arts equivalent of pitching – only you’re against hundreds of other dancers squeezed into a 60-person capacity studio trying to learn thousands of intricate moves that, in 12 minutes, you’ll be required to perform perfectly while once again attempting to mask your visible desperation.
It was a cattle market.
And I’m exhausted just typing this.
But, ya’ll know I got a theme going. It wasn’t long before I sacked off this idea of proving myself to power-hungry industry “players” and looked for ways to position my dance experience and ability differently from the masses. I say this like it was strategic at this stage. It wasn’t. I was 21 years old. It was me sticking two fingers up at an industry that modelled itself on The Hunger Games before The Hunger Games even existed.
I’m disastrously bad at pretending to enjoy a process or an experience when, deep down inside, I want the entire world to stop spinning. My very British “Keep calm and carry on” vibe allows me to smile and walk away without setting fire to everything, but honestly, if it wasn’t for my ability to not care about what people thought, I may well be doing time for arson right now.
Back to the verbiage…
I think that’s why I have a problem with the word “pitch.” And the only way to make it worse is to add the beloved Americanism “elevator” before it.
Elevator. Pitch.
*shudders*
So the question now is why, as Coach Kym, where my jam is regularly helping small business owners to get more clients consistently, have I got an issue with a term that is solidly embedded in the global business glossary?
I’ll tell you why.
Because even if I view it as a simple strategy from an objective perspective, my experience as a coach and a consultant who regularly connects with clients on a human-to-human level tells me that there’s no scenario in my coaching or consulting world where an elevator pitch could EVER be practical or helpful.
And yet, it’s still mandated as a “must-have” for every bright-eyed and bushy-tailed service business owner by prehistoric business teachers, mentors, and coaches. It’s part of the small business start-up kit for entrepreneurs along with a membership to WeWork, stickers on your MacBook, and a photo of you holding a coffee mug with a witty or swear-y statement on it.
It’s so fucking old school and so fucking useless that I. CAN. NOT.
Here’s the thing:
An elevator pitch is a short snappy statement to explain what your business does that you rehearse like crazy to absolutely wow someone you’ve never met at a moment when you might not be expecting to meet them.
Yep, I get it; it feels safe. You memorise the thing and then rinse and repeat it, believing that everyone you recite it to is getting all the information you THINK they need in a perfectly polished 30 seconds.
However, if you’re delivering this pitch, what you’re really doing is talking AT someone in a space they can’t easily escape from, and they aren’t hearing a word you say because this interaction is beyond awkward.
I don’t know anyone who enjoys listening to an elevator pitch. Why does anyone think that’s the best way to begin a relationship with a client?
Sure, if you’re looking for your moment on Dragons Den or Shark Tank, or you have a specific product idea that requires some kind of venture capital or angel funding, then an investor is only giving you 30 seconds to shine, so you gotta get it all in quickly, I GET that.
But, if you’re trying to create valuable, lasting relationships with potential clients so they see you as the trusted advisor to turn to should they ever require your help and services, tha elevator pitch ain’t it, HomeSlice.
This might be oversimplifying, but as a service business owner, I wholeheartedly believe you should be in service.
This includes getting to know your clients better than they know themselves, asking questions and being genuinely curious, listening closely to everything they have to say, deciphering what they really need, and then offering them the right help if you’re the right person to do so.
And THAT means taking every opportunity to have proper conversations with your potential clients, not reciting a bunch of thrown-together words that make you sound like you’re out here raising seed money for your self-cleaning shower shoes.
D’ya see where I’m going with this?
I’d love it if we could just altogether remove the idea of the elevator pitch from the service-based business world and replace it with simple conversations.
No pre-prepared speeches. No robotic repetition. No awkwardly invading the personal (or digital) space of the person you believe MUST hear your spiel.
Think about it – when was the last time your regurgitated spiel landed you a client?
I’ll answer that for you; the answer is NEVER.
But, if you show up, be curious, listen, and serve, dammit, then connecting with new clients is considerably more likely to happen.
It’s not a crazy idea, right?
So, if you’re reading this and planning on building a business based on serving your clients, please ditch your elevator pitch. You’ve got something much more effective in your toolbox – it’s called meaningful conversation, and you’ve been using it successfully for years personally; it’s time to shift that skill into your professional space so that no matter where you are (on a plane, at a weird networking thing, at gramma’s 85th birthday, etc.) you feel confident about your communications.
And fellow coaches…please try not to encourage your clients to create an elevator pitch. It’s not helping them, and it’s CERTAINLY not helping you if your goal is to guide your clients to do what they love for the market they should be serving. Show your clients how they can make a great first impression by knowing their stuff and being able to talk about their brilliance in casual conversation.
Y’all know this was written with all tha love.
And thanks in advance for doing your part to eliminate the existence of the eLeVaToR pItCh.
Mwaaahhh,
