45 Seconds to a Killer Pitch
People tell their own bio story like they are reading the ingredients of a Cheerios™ box. When we do the “round the table” intro at a meeting hardly any one makes an impression. The act of listing name/title/length of service is a mindless droning that is absolutely enervating. I think that this moment is a lost opportunity. Your job is not to blend in- it’s to stand out as someone who brings value and uniqueness to the conversation. How to do this:
Formula
- Name and title
- Years in the industry, with the company
- 2-3 big hits
- Your contribution to the “big solution”
I think that this is best illustrated in a series of examples:
Example #1 – Joe
Hi, I’m Joe Williams, COO of XYZ corporation. I’ve been in logistics for 20 years, 10 of those with the top 3 mainline carriers and 10 in the 3PL and 4PL consulting business, the last five with XYZ. A couple of the highlights have been re-building the international supply chain management transportation for Wal-Mart saving a half-billion dollars over 4 years and the re-organization of the expedited services of PDQ for a market share double over 3 years. I’m here to cover our 19% expense trim strategy on your urgent shipments.
Example #2 – Sue
Hi, I’m Sue Anderson, Senior Account Executive of Acme Corporation. I’ve been in strategic account development for 15 years in the IT services industry. All of those have been with Acme focusing on the enterprise platform deployment area of the business.
