Franklin Taggart's Unconventional Life Blog

  I attend networking meetings every week and I'm amazed to see the change that takes place in people from when you're just having a normal conversation with them and the point where they are asked to introduce themselves to the group. I almost have to do a double-take because the charming person I was just talking with has turned into a robot who is rushing through a canned, formulaic phrase that ends up not giving anyone a reason to talk to them after the intros are done. I've had my share of elevator faux pas', too, mostly because I never realized just how important they were in the process of creating memories and delivering value. A few years ago, I attended a workshop at the SBDC where we were given an elevator pitch exercise that had a formula that I had to question. It was the most uninteresting way to present yourself that I had ever seen. About a month later I was putting together a workshop on marketing messages for the same SBDC and I created a short exercis...

In the couple of days since I released the Elevator Pitches That Don't Suck Course, I've had a few messages from people who talked about the difficulty they experience knowing what to say when they're asked to talk about themselves, even in a simple introduction. I know how that feels. In this Coffee Break, I have some reflections and insights to share and a couple of suggestions that people in this situation may find helpful. Just know that it is a common problem, and even people who appear to talk about themselves easily sometimes have had a hard road getting to that point. I think the best news in relation to your elevator pitch is that you are probably the last thing you should be talking about when you're meeting new people. The story they're really interested in is theirs! This is the last time I'll be mentioning the Boost Your Business Bundle, and it's only available until tomorrow, so take this last chance and at least sign up for the free Standard B...

I feel lucky to have gotten this far and to have only a few regrets. I don't want to dwell on it, but there is a link between one of my top regrets and the course I just launched. If I could go back and do one thing differently, I would choose to have been more assertive in creating opportunities and inviting people to join me. I had a habit of waiting to be invited to join people, so I was left out of many things I would have loved to join. My passivity was the thing that led to my exclusion. What does that have to do with elevator pitches? As it turns out, quite a bit. If you listen to the way many people introduce themselves to a new group, you might be surprised to find their introductions are passive, and they don't offer an invitation for the next step in a relationship. In my own case, changing my elevator pitch to a more assertive style of creating an appealing invitation and telling people how to accept it was the turning point in my feelings of confidence and success ...