Pitching Between Floors on an Elevator

No matter what business you are in, there is someone in your group (hopefully or your employment is likely tenuous at best) who is selling a vision. They might be selling the vision to clients or to their colleagues. They may be selling the dream to investors or to managers of their own business. Regardless, these people are there to move the business along. In fact, in many cases they are the catalysts of product development on the basis of discovering needs...you guessed it...in the selling process. 

Here's the thing: so many of these "sales people" and "visionaries" who experience success and growth in their business are able to do something that I refer to in my business (television production) as "the elevator pitch".  It is used in politics, world finance, and I believe that we do it everyday as everyday people.  It is way of using as few words as possible to evoke a powerful combination of "feeling", "familiar" and "the twist".  

Feeling:  This vision feels like....A network news program

Familiar: This vision can be related to something familiar - Like NBC Nightly News

The Twist: What makes this show different is that it focuses on Hollywood,  not world news 

We call it: Entertainment Tonight.

That is the basis of an elevator pitch. I can almost guarantee that is how the pitch went down when Entertainment Tonight was explained for the first time to a programming decision-maker.  The prospective buyer/voter/programmer/investor (on an on...) needs to get the concept in a breath or two...Between Floors on an Elevator.

Seems to me that is the major cornerstone trait of a visionary who drives business in any capacity. The other major ingredient is the ability to tell the person you are pitching how they fit in, benefit and get glory.  Save that for another time.

Thanks for reading.  I did not proof it, so let me know.

Remember always proof sred your work.

Mike