The Leader’s Elevator Pitch
Posted by JamesAug 4
The elevator pitch is ubiquitous with entrepreneurship. Pick up almost any book on entrepreneurship and as sure as the Moon goes around the Earth there will be a section espousing the importance of it . The elevator pitch is what an aspiring (or even more experienced) entrepreneur looking for funding would say to Bill Gates if he were riding with him in an elevator. It’s tenant is that you have approximately 30 seconds to give your pitch and secure permission for a follow up phone call or meeting at some point in the future.
While this is fine for the entrepreneur bumping into a chance walking pile of cash it has severe limitations for the aspiring leader looking for more then just the predictable seed capital. Leaders far more often need things other then cash, things which do not have a ready made system for funnelling applicants through. Things like talent, contacts, goodwill, mentors, permissions and so on. In these situations you are going to need to communicate far more then just a 30 second business plan but will probably not have that much more time to do it in. Of cause if you do have ample time then no problem but more then often, even if we are making small talk at a dinner party we have less time then we might. Why? because of the leaders need to listen.
- Balancing the need to communicate your vision with the need to listen
Leaders get things done by knowing as much about the people they deal with as possible. They know what they want, need, hope for, dream about and care about. They know what drives people and how to get people to do what they never thought was possible. There is only one real way to do this and that is to listen to them. This is especially important at the start of any new connection. This is the time when the leader must have his senses at his most fine, he needs to know what he is dealing with, whether the person in front of him is a diamond in the rough or the one bad apple in the barrel. This means active listening, it means leading the conversation in such a way as to have the other person talk about himself. Listening is key.This leads to a paradox. You must listen, but at the same time you must communicate your vision with passion and clarity. What to do?
Simple. You must use an extended version of the elevator pitch. One tailored to the specifics of what you are trying to achieve. The normal elevator pitch assumes that what you are looking for is funding and all you need to do is communicate your business plan in 30 seconds and you’re good. The leaders elevator pitch on the other had must communicate three separate things.
- The Vision
- The Win
- The Need
Vision
The whole point of this exercise is that you have a condensed version of your vision you can roll out on a moments notice. I know you can talk about your vision for hours on end once you get going but that’s not what we’re after here. Carefully craft it so it covers all the main points while evoking as much emotion as possible (emotion first, logic comes in the next step).
- Tell a story… people don’t interrupt stories
When your describing your vision it can be very helpful to do so in the form of a story either about you or someone you know. The reasons for this are many. We can engage with stories much better, can remember their contents easier and they allow us to build an emotional connection to the characters (especially useful if you’re one of them) but perhaps one of the better reasons to use stories is that people are trained not to interrupt stories. If your talking in generalities about the state of the world people often can’t help jumping in with their opinions and ruining your flow (doesn’t happen when your talking with other leaders ^^). But tell a story interspersed with what ever information is relevant to your pitch and you can often get the through the whole thing without your listener taking over the conversation once (You’ve given him plenty of time to speak, now its your turn 
).
- Name your vision so you can instantly refer back to it in later conversation/s
Once you have created an emotional state in your listener you can get it back later on in the conversation by giving the vision a name relevant to the story you told. For example if you were telling a story about a crash you had with an empty ice cream van that got a lot of laughs you can refer back to it as the “ice cream smash” or similar. This is what great comedians do in their routines. When a joke goes especially well they will refer back to it later in the performance for instant laughs. They don’t even need to do anything funny. Just refer back to it. This works with things other than humour. If you create a sense of awe, reverence, humility, gratitude, determination or whatever in your listener you can get it back later without having to go through the whole process again. In NLP this is called anchoring and it’s a important element of emotion guidance.
Win
The win is a short positive thing you have done to move the vision closer to reality.
- Establishing credibility
This is not about stating your degrees or your experience or anything else that has little or no relevance to your vision. If your vision is to build special schools for mentally challenged children in third world countries this is not the place to mention your 30+ years experience in the field. You should have done that earlier. This is about establishing credibility of the project not about you. This is about showing that something is happening to bring THIS vision closer to reality. It could be about the team of top notch professionals you’re putting together (especially if he knows some of them or respects the credentials you can throw out about them). It could be about the expedition you took to scout locations and meet with local government officials. It could also be about some press you received in regards to the project.
- An example, preferable with numbers or details
The best examples of wins are small pilot projects with measurable results. For example. “We set up a summer school in a temporary shelter with volunteers from around the country to teach 200 children for 8 weeks earlier this year. Everyone had a blast. It was awesome.” Think you’ll find it difficult to find this kind of win for your vision? Create one! You should always be on the look out for opportunities to create these kind of wins. Not only people outside your project but also those inside need wins with measurable results to keep momentum going and to keep the belief in the vision strong. If the project is still in it’s very early stages then mention something solid that you’ve been doing to get the project off the ground.
- People have heard it all before
Sharing wins the vision has had, no matter how small, is crucial to your credibility. People have heard it all before. There are no limit of people who talk a good game but have nothing come of it. You must demonstrate that you are not one of these people before they can take any request, no matter how small, seriously. (This all assumes that you ARE NOT one of these people, if you are, I suggest you read “Getting Things Done” by David Allen to get you started.
Need
Of cause, all this preparation and communication is not just so the other guy can have an entertaining time. The purpose of the pitch as a whole is to move you further towards your next goal. Remember, your next goal is different from your vision.
Your need is the one thing you do not currently posses, that this person is most likely to be able to provide, that will move you towards your next goal.
Examples of things you might need
- People (“I really need someone who understands how to put together a funding application, You know someone who might know someone.”)
- Experience (“I really need to improve my public speaking, would you know of any opportunities to do this?”)
- View-points/advice (“I really need another person to give me input on this, what do you think?”)
Ask for something that is actionable, for example, don’t say you need money because no one, even if they have the cash, is going to write you out a check right there and then, a better thing to ask for instead is a contact, like, “What I really need right now is a VC….. you don’t happen to know any do you?”. Notice that you are not asking if your listener if he is a VC, your asking if he knows someone else who is (If he’s a VC you should already know that by now!). Nor are you directly asking for your objective. This is especially important if what you are looking for is reasonably rare, after all, for any given ability or resource there are only so many people who has it but far more who know someone else who has it.
If you feel you’ll get the chance for extended conversation detach the need from the vision and the win. Let the other guy talk for a bit between them and bring it up again at a strategically placed point later on. It sounds less like a sales pitch.
How the pitch fits into the big picture
The successful pitch is a combination of your credibility, your pitch and luck.
- Credibility
Your credibility is formed before the pitch. It is the sum of your dress, speech, social group, surroundings, reputation, toys (read cars, planes, jewellery, and other obvious displays of wealth), looks, body language, credentials, achievements, track record and character. All these things are important because they can be communicated without telling someone about them (remember you need to listen more then speak). These are all things you should be working on all the time. Anything which builds your credibility as someone who can get things done is immeasurably useful. Some of the things on this list are considered superficial and shallow by many people such as looks and wealth and while they may say little on their own about your worth as a person they speak volumes about your ability to make things happen and should be treated as such. Displays of wealth do not need to be flashy to communicate their presence effectively. Remember the old persuasion adage ”people sometimes believe what they are told but they never doubt what they conclude”. If you have a choice between telling someone about something that makes you credible and showing them, show them.
- Pitch
Remember, the pitch is the often one of the first times you are giving a piece of yourself to someone new. It is an important first impression. When you pitch your vision to someone it should be done under the assumption that this person could well turn into a long term friend, mentor, contact, business partner or whatever. Don’t exaggerate or, god forbid, lie in your pitch. This is your vision, distilled down into a few short paragraphs. You should treat it like a part of your own soul.
- Luck
Of course, even with perfect preparation in perfect conditions, sometimes lady luck just isn’t on your side. It doesn’t matter if you have the credibility of Richard Branson and the pitching ability of Steve Jobs, if the guy you’re talking to just doesn’t know anyone who’s what you’re after, tough. But don’t let that worry you, after-all, this is a numbers game. You talk to X people, X/5 fail your credibility test, X/15 are interested in what you say, X/45 are interested to help and X/90 actually can help. These numbers are just made up by the way. They illustrate the principle well enough. It’s up to you to improve your pitch and credibility to lower those numbers. (Hint: The best way to lower the number of people who fail your credibility test is to carefully pick where you hang out).
Finally, remember that sometimes you don’t have to pitch at all! If what you need is obvious and the situation you’re in is completely built around your need just let the other person talk. Immerse yourself in their world. Bill Clinton was a master at this. He would never ask for someone’s vote or support when talking to people at parties or events. Just put his full undivided attention on whoever he was with. That’s all he needed to do.
- James
But that 20% extra is A LOT when you’re talking about this many hours. The book uses this and other findings to once and for all dispel the myth of “innate” genius.
