That Pesky Elevator Pitch

I have always made fun of elevator pitches and thought they were rather trite until I had a breakthrough with Jonathan Fitzgarrald at the Legal Marketing Association Conference in D.C. last year. (I’ll even allow that I entered the room well after the session started because I had it listed as a lower priority on the day.)

What is the pitch? Well, Jonathan knew his audience and delivered a session that told us what he was going to do for us, showed us how he was going to do it, then prepared us to fly before we left the room. In that short session, Jonathan demonstrated the tools that can “guarantee a lifetime of employability” in the words of Jack Welch.

1. Know your audience – what is the pitch and the available time? He gave the example of Bud the water filter salesman who had his audience and pitch down to the point where he finished his story, “if you don’t have a filter…” the audience would shout back, “you are the filter!” Bud had a product that was not differentiated, however, he was the point of differentiation.
2. Pull from personal experience and distinguish yourself.
3. Show specific examples and sell the sizzle of your qualifications.

The message components include:

1. Deliver the end result first
2. Demonstrate expertise through a hook and tell about the risk you took
3. Include a drama scenario of overcoming an obstacle to entertain your audience
4. What was your creative solution to the obstacle including details?
5. What was the “aha” moment where the benefit was delivered – that zinger moment?

Granted, this is only the framework, but Jonathan finally gave me a structure and story that I could believe in that could be edited for a 30-second taste or a three to five minute story.

What do you do when you are faced with the decision to make a change or lose your job?

I’ve always wanted to work at a bike shop and had the chance to be a mechanic at Iowa Bike and Fitness in Newton when in high school. I moved to Ames for college and wrenched at Michael’s Cyclery. After a few months, business started to slow down as the weather grew colder. My hours were getting reduced, so Iasked to join the sales staff. I watched, listened, studied, and learned from the managers and developed into the lead salesperson and eventually the manager over a few years. Through this experience, I was able to lead the sales team to deliver consistent customer service and probe for opportunity to grow our business with each time the door bell rang.

After graduation, I needed a new challenge and moved to Des Moines to work for The Des Moines Register. I didn’t start out as a suit and tie executive, but a jeans and t-shirt tele-sales rep selling $16.95 three-line auto ads for five days in the metro. However, if you got me on the line, your ads started at $75. I quickly progressed through the organization and was selling $2 million a year to local auto dealers and real estate firms.

But I was bored, so I took a new challenge and moved into marketing, pr, advertising, events, and development with Storey Kenworthy Office Furniture and Products. I helped develop their new brands, WorkSpace Inc., and Business Furniture Warehouse, and provide the resources to staff to show customers how they could “Get More” every day compared to the Big Boxes.

Which brings me to today where I’m Marketing Director at one of Iowa’s largest law firms. I’ve developed a strength in marketing, sales, development, training, and willing to take risksto move forward in my career and community. I’ve demonstrated moving from a shy wrench to a focused executive and I can do the same for you. I’m the Marketing Mechanic who can provide the tools you need to be successful in business and life.

So you wonder what happened to the wrenches? I put them away. I was always a horrible mechanic (who should have been fired) and now pay for my work to be done.

What is your story?

Making Marketing Work in Your Organization

A great article in Ad Age about the Association of National Advertisers CMO roundtable with CMOs from Best Buy, Con Agra, Fidelity, and General Mills referenced transparency and chemistry as drivers for marketing.

First of all, Mr. Speros [Fidelity] said, you’ve got to realize that the clock is ticking. “Velocity is key, because you don’t have a lot of time to make a difference,” he said. “You have to get in very fast and make relationships with the right people, understand the hot-button issues.”

I love the word “velocity” in the relationship business. Also, consider that time is money. Set an agenda, stick to it, and stay cognizant of the time you’re using of your top execs. They’ll appreciate it and build the basis of a strong relationship (and maybe an advocate as well).

Of equal importance is to build a learning culture within the organization. Ms. Chow [Con Agra] developed a training system for social media with executives. I can’t think of a better way to develop ideas and partnerships at the same time.

So what does marketing look like in your organization?Are you working the floor, listening, sharing ideas and moving a thought to action? Think about your role in the context of these tweets from my buddy Josh Fleming @admavericks.

Everytime you’re w/a client, give them what they asked for, but always give them a new idea.

or

Tell them. Tell them again. Tell them what you told them.

By the way – kudos on the big win for best blog!

Networking Critical Mass

Look at my tags for this post on networking – advertising – branding – events – public relations – strategy – they all apply to getting out and involved.

Reading Mary Gottschalk’s Guest Opinion in this week’s Business Record about no-pressure networking reminded me of the power of relationships. I’ve been fortunate to build strong relationships across the business community through my passions of bike racing, running and triathlons. It helps me find a peer group to have a good time with, but also bounce business and networking ideas as well. Go where the rest of the business people are is the subtle advice – if they run – run with them.

Run with the leaders, influencers and connectors.

It also stimulated a brainstorm of how to add value to networking events.

I’ve been a regular at the Downtown Council presented by the Des Moines Downtown Chamber of Commerce meetings for almost a year now and call it my mega-networking meeting. Not only do I get the opportunity to socialize, but I meet important new people who can help drive the marketing and business development functions.

What can you do to add value to meetings like this? Consider volunteering and inviting others to participate. If you become an advocate and evangelist, others will definitely notice. Do you have a skill set you’d like to develop? Unleash it and see what you can do to build on that networking critical mass.

Once you’ve got it started, then apply the magic to other groups in the community and you’re bound to be noticed.

Check out the Des Moines Downtown Chamber of Commerce and upcoming Downtown Council meetings on Facebook.

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