Elevator Pitch and Sound Bites

I have been asked to prepare an elevator pitch (a 30second sales talk) about what I do, and given my interest in communications and relationships I immediately started thinking not about what I was going to say, but about what the person I was going to say it to, might hear and think.

Example:
I SAY… our business is the best, most successful and expert business for change and project management and that by being passionate and committed we have the energy and dynamism to make things happen.

YOU THINK…yeah, I’ve heard 100 companies say something similar. Enough about you, what about me?

Having taught for the Institute of Management I’ll often ask students if their firm has mission or vision statements. Most do. Then I’ll ask them to recite them. Most fail. Lots of firms will have value statements. My experience is that people are better at remembering these.

Having worked with the media, who will often edit what you say to convey the message they want others to hear, I’ve learned not to talk in long sentences, but in neat sound-bites. Short enough to be catchy and memorable. Vague enough to be universally acceptable. Not so long as to require thought or editing. Listen to 99% of politicians on the Radio4 Today Programme and they do the same. They never answer a direct question but instead insert the most appropriate of 20 sound-bites they have prepared for the interview!

So I have abandoned the idea of a ‘one-size-fits-all’ elevator pitch in favour of sound-bites which I can mix, match or juggle according to the audience, and which hopefully are both memorable and valuable since that is exactly how I want people to think of me - memorable and valuable!

These are a few (I never said they were going to be original!!)

1. We are about doing the right things and doing things right.
2. Projects methodologies are like self-assembly furniture. Craftsmanship is altogether better.
3. It you think a professional is expensive, try hiring an amateur.
4. There is no point in being fast, if it is in the wrong direction.
5. A grade B plan with grade A execution is better than a grade A plan with grade B execution.
6. We put the passion into projects, dynamism into delivery, commitment into change and have the energy to make it happen.
7. Project management is about partnership, change management is about communication both are about people.

I’m going to think of some more, but would be interested in your favourites and suggestions.