The elevator pitch - a 30 second window to make an impact promoted by so many is actually slowing you down. But there is one great thing about the elevator pitch. Most people don’t know that they are wasting their time. Use that to your advantage.

Jack of all trades - Master of none

This is the problem of the whole concept; it means that you have to write a sales pitch that covers everyone and everything.
Almost no business can be made in 30 seconds, the elevator pitch is designed to create interest and hopefully further contacts so that you can get the business at a later date. So in order to measure the effectiveness of an elevator pitch we need to see how much of it results in future contacts.

If you completely 180 your approach, you can actually improve the results of this opportunity to almost 100%. You do this by letting them run their elevator pitch on you.

Get them talking

No matter how you do it, get them to throw their elevator pitch at you instead. By listening to their trimmed and elegant message you will gain valuable information about what they are doing.

Use question sets that keep them moving forward.
- Oh, how do you do that? - Isn’t that a very competitive field? - Is that government regulated… Ask questions relevant to what you do, know, or can offer. But don’t try to sell it now.

Don’t interrupt; let them get as deep into their elevator pitch as you can get them. Your only objective is to walk away with as much information as you can get and their business card.

The benefit of this is that your interest will do two things for you, it makes them feel comfortable, and it takes the pressure off you to have the perfect elevator pitch for every situation. All you have to do is listen and pay attention.

Once you have got them to talk about their business and themselves, the next step is to simply get their business card. Since they are already warmed up and relaxed, the natural next step for them is to give it to you. Especially since you didn’t sell or try to pitch anything to them.

If you can get their cards, you now have the 100% return, by doing nothing more than listen, you get the control of further communication. You also have key information as to who they are, what they are doing and maybe even what they want, and you have their contact information. Use this opportunity to take your time, come up with how you can help this person, and prepare a much more targeted, relevant, and powerful message.

Take them to lunch - you have now increased your window of opportunity from 30 seconds to an hour.