The importance of an Elevator Story (also called Elevator Pitch)

Remember the 6 degrees of proximity? Everybody has on average 250 direct contacts. In second degree we have 31250 contacts. But we can’t tell our Elevator Story to those 31250 people ourselves. So our direct contacts should be able to “represent” us when they are talking with their direct contacts. This means they should be able to tell them your Elevator Story almost as well as you do.

Crafting a good Elevator Story is not easy, and in fact almost impossible. Why? Because every situation is different. There is no one-fits-all Elevator Story. So you have to be creative to adapt your Elevator Story to your specific situation.

“If my Elevator Story is different every time, what’s the use of preparing it?” you might ask.

Most people I meet never thought even one second about their Elevator Story. Just taking the time to think about one and draft it is sometimes already enough to have the necessary ingredients and enough self-confidence to improvise at all future occasions.

In my experience it is also very powerful to sit down with all people involved and narrow down an Elevator Story for your organisation, your department or your team.

Especially in sales teams this is a very good exercise. The sales representatives learn from each other how they talk about the organisation and how they present themselves. This not only inspires the participants and boosts their self-confidence, but they also get to know each other better. Because of the positive act of working towards a joint goal (the Elevator Story) this is a simple team building exercise with great results!