When you do meet a potential partner, client, or investor in person, remember that if things start to tank, there are other hooks that can renew their interest in you. If the subject of your elevator pitch is about to blow you off, there are two options, which translate roughly to "fight or flight." If you feel like you made a real impression before being cut off, just make sure you get your business card into the hand of your subject before ducking out. If you barely got a chance to open your mouth, just be confident and straight with who you're talking to.
"If you're good at pushing on through, if you're not obnoxious about it, just be very specific and ask for two minutes of their time," Smith MacDermott says. If they say no: "Ask is there a better time to talk with you?"
If a pitch has been cut short, try to get the person to go to your website to learn more. Another tactic: Simply ask a question. Remember, it's not all about you. You're trying to give a pitch at the moment, but the ultimate goal is to build a solid business relationship. You'll never get there if you don't engage the other person and get them talking about themselves.
You should also open yourself up to future networking or re-connecting online, if you can. Plenty of elevator pitching has gone digital, so you should expect to take your pitch to an Internet audience, too. Billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban, for example, handles almost every ounce of his daily business over e-mail. If you can say it in person or over the phone, you can put it in writing – be it in an e-mail, or on your website.
With the proliferation of social media, you'll have to also know how to make an online pitch – one that can be individualized or blasted to 1,000 Twitter followers.
"The newer forms of communications and technologies are just reminding us what the rules of thumb are," O'Leary says. "Twenty-five words or less is a very old kind of concept. I think people are getting better at it today they are getting more aware of it online."
Dig Deeper: When to Ditch Your Elevator Pitch
Mastering Your Elevator Pitch: Additional Resources
Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die by Chip Heath and Dan Heath. (Random House, 2007.) One of our favorite books on coming up with a winning message by the Heath brothers, who write a column for our sister magazine, Fast Company.
Good in a Room: How to Sell Yourself (and Your Ideas) and Win Over Any Audience by Stephanie Palmer (Broadway Business, March 2008.) Good in a Room is a brand new book that understands successful communication and teaches actual tactics. Stephanie Palmer, a former movie executive, shares her experience listening to thousands of pitches. Much of her direction on how to pitch well is counterintuitive, but it's dead-on accurate.
Elevator Pitch Essentials: How to Get Your Point Across in Two Minutes or Less by Chris O'Leary (The Limb Press, September 2008.)
How to Get Your Point Across in 30 Seconds or Less by Milo O. Frank. (Pocket Books, April 1990.)
Be Sharp: Tell Me About Yourself in Great Introductions and Professional Bios by Paula Asinof and Mina Brown. (BookSurge Publishing, December 2008.)
How to Wow: Proven Strategies for Selling Your [Brilliant] Self in Any Situation by Frances Cole Jones. (Ballantine Books, March 2009.)
