Book Recommendation: Small Message, Big Impact

Have you honed your elevator pitch?

I just read a very important book I’d recommend to anyone, called Small Message, Big Impact, by Terri Sjodin.

Essentially, the book teaches you how to develop an effective elevator pitch, which is basically a short spiel that explains what you do, or what your company does, or some project you’re working on. It should be effective enough that it can “sell” the person you’re pitching to, and short enough that you could go through it in the time of an elevator ride (30-60 sec).

The reason I call the book important is that in today’s world, when everyone is moving a mile a minute and doesn’t have time to take two breaths, the elevator pitch has become more important than ever - yet most people I encounter don’t seem at all to be able to explain what they do in a crisp, concise manner.

Take my personal trainer. She’s a lovely woman, and a great trainer, but one day I asked her to give me the pitch she uses on potential clients, and she went on for about 20 minutes! And after the 20 minutes, I was just confused! Here’s a woman I’ve been working with one on one for a long time, and even I didn’t understand what she was talking about!

And that was hardly a unique experience for me.

Honing your elevator pitch is tremendously important - it’s necessary - so that when you find yourself in a room with the right person, you know you can dazzle them every time. Leave them wanting to hear more of what you have to say, every time.

You might be selling the greatest thing in the world, but if you can’t explain it confidently and concisely, no one’s gonna want it.

How about you? Do you have your elevator pitch down?
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