Remember the days when someone would ask "What do you do?"
You would reply with a catchy one-liner.
"I help struggling entrepreneurs build a 6-figure business working just 4 hours a week from anywhere in the world"
The goal of your elevator pitch is to get them to say "That’s interesting, tell me more"
That used to work 20 years ago.
Today, we’re inundated with so many hard to believe claims our default response has shifted from "tell me more" to "bullshit".
When you lead with an outcome that sounds too good to be true, our defense mechanism kicks in.
Instead of piquing their interest, we’re putting them on the defensive.
Brant Pinvidic calls this the state-and-prove method in The 3-Minute Rule (I’m reading it for the second time!).
When you lead with a grand conclusion then try to back it up, people will doubt you.
He flips it around.
Inform and lead them to the desired outcome through stories.
In the book, he shares a story to prove his point.
He was the keynote speaker at a National Speaker’s Association event.
"Katy Perry is the greatest ever"
He could see the body language shift in the room.
"Does anyone disagree with that statement?"
Everyone raised their hand.
Next, he asked if he could try a different approach.
He told a short story about Perry’s career then shared some facts.
- First female to have five number one hits on one record
- First artist to have multiple billion-view videos
- Eight Guinness World Records
- Record for most streamed single
- Record sixty-nine consecutive weeks as number one
He didn’t have to say "Katy Perry is the greatest ever"
They came to that conclusion on their own after seeing the facts.
I highly recommend grabbing a copy of The 3-Minute Rule and read it more than once.