Browsing the web recently, I ran into a video teaching the purpose and structure of 3-minute elevator speeches.

The advice was sound for structuring a formal talk, but I couldn’t conceive of an elevator speech lasting three minutes.

I could see an elevator dialogue being three minutes long, but not an elevator speech!

Three minutes in an elevator listening to someone trying to sell me on her business sounds like an eternity.  Three minutes at the water cooler would be half an eternity. And three minutes at a networking event would be long enough to make me look for the guy passing the little crab cakes. 

We all recognize the increasing value of brevity and concision, but three minutes does not feel brief and concise in an elevator, or any other social or public setting.  

I recommend an elevator dialogue that starts with an elevator question.

How about this for a starter after you’ve rubbed elbows with (and introduced yourself to) a VP of Marketing.  You ask each other questions, he finds out you’re an expert in the principles and practices of persuasion, and then you ask him if you can give him your value proposition.

“How long is it?” he’s bound to ask.  If you say three minutes, you’re dead in the water. 

You say, “Short,” and begin. 

“What is the value of your Brand Directors being able to make their plans clear and exciting to the organization?”

The answer should be, ” Uh…that’s important.”

You say, “Why is it important?”

And he says, “Because it saves time and money, reduces indecision, and gets the whole machine humming — it improves the vitality and energy of corporate life.”

Then you ask, “How are your Brand Director’s doing?”

He says, “Okay.”

“What if they were doing great?  What if you could take time and cost out of the marketing process, and at the same time electrify the brand teams?”

He might look at you a little skeptically at that point, but admire you for your enthusiasm.

“I’m not sure that’s possible,” he might say.

And you, taking the bull by the horns, say, “Listen.  Every day, information is sneaking off to make babies with other information.  The world is overrun with information, and it’s only getting worse.  The most valuable thing on this planet is a person who can create a sense of clarity and alignment out of the tsunami of information that demands our attention.  The ability to communicate well is a hard corporate asset masquerading as a soft skill.  It’s the ultimate competitive weapon.  And that weapon can only be developed through training.”

He looks at you, and says, “You really believe this, don’t you?”

You say, “Yes, I do.  I’d like to schedule an appointment with you to show you how my company can save you time, money, and frustration, and give you the one competitive advantage that is hard to replicate overnight.”

And more than likely, he’ll say, “Okay, give my assistant a call and get it on the books.”

How long was that?  A minute and 10 seconds.  And it wasn’t a monologue.  Yes, it had a speechy part, but it was based on asking questions, listening, and asking follow up questions.  And only once, when he tried to dismiss the argument, did you get on your high horse and get salesy. 

The world has hype-fatigue.  Engage in dialogue.  Don’t make speeches in elevators.

I had an interesting session with a new client.  Let’s call her Fiona.  She came in from the field to take a position in marketing with a major pharma, and has discovered that, at her company, your career depends largely on how you present. 

Amazingly, they don’t offer any developmental support for people coming into the job.  But she pushed her boss for help, and he relented.

Here’s a rough summary of what I learned about her experience in pharma marketing.  In the spirit of full disclosure, I have not heard this before, and I have been deep into pharma marketing for 20 years.

1. Everyone wants to get promoted.  The easiest way to get promoted is to get visibility in front of senior people.  And the easiest way to get visibility is to present to them.

2.  If you’re not a good presenter, your boss will know it and will be reluctant to stand you up in front of the senior execs.  She could be afraid it will hurt your career chances and her image as an up-and-coming executive who is the fire under a red-hot group of high achievers.

3. Presenting marketing information internally is essentially selling ideas, and if you can’t get listeners to understand and believe in your idea, they are unlikely to see you as a good marketer, even though your ideas may be strong.

4.  Finally, everyone listening to your presentation is so busy that they don’t want presentations to go on for too long, and therefore they don’t ask questions.  They’re afraid of being seen as the “problem” person, or the “know-it-all” who makes everyone else look bad.   She said the preferred method of presenting is, “1, 2, 3…Poof!”

This means that you show your slide, say up to three things about it in a confident voice, and then move to the next slide (as in “Poof.  It’s gone!”)  Everyone will be pleased that you got through your material quickly, and displayed confidence and conviction as you spoke. 

5.  Finally, while every product and market is different, the process of marketing is the same across brands.  This causes many presentations to look and sound the same, i.e., they’re boring.  So listeners like it when you’re articulate, energetic, and concise because you save them from the embarrassment of falling asleep.

She says you’re especially valued  if you have a highly expressive voice.

Doesn’t sound like a lot of fun in this big pharma.  But if you want the rewards–the promotion and the fatter check– you gotta  sing for your supper. 

And the name of the song you have to sing?  “1, 2, 3…Poof!”

In financial services, every firm has a process for making decisions about investments. The process is usually designed to ensure that there is due deliberation about decisions, and that no money manager is allowed to invest without periodic oversight from a board or committee.

This is sensible, since one person, left to his own devices, might occasionally make an error that could be caught if only a group of experienced people looked over his shoulder.

The Investment Committee, as they might be called, serve as editors to prune and shape the creative ideas of the money managers, whether they might have a tendency to swing for the fences, be too cautious, or drift too far from the declared strategy.

The problem arises when a board, a family, or an individual goes shopping for a money manager, and has to listen to the five potential firms describe their investment process. They all sound the same.

Those making the pitch try hard to differentiate their process, but as the old saying goes, most of us are interested in sausage, but few want to know how it’s made.  Let’s face it, process can be boring.

Nevertheless, the financial professional has to have a process, and she has to demonstrate to a prospect how it works and why it’s good. After all, if she doesn’t mention it, the prospect might assume that she doesn’t have one, and exclude her as a preferred candidate.

So how can a financial services presenter make the investment process interesting and a source of differentiation?

The first step is to answer the question, “Why should they care about the process?” This is often the most forgotten component of informal, sit down meetings conducted using a pitch book.

One way to bring an investment process to life is to lead the prospect through a series of questions to determine what he knows about the process, and why he thinks it’s important.   If he knows little, and if he’s unclear about its value, you have opened what psychologists call a “knowledge gap”  which creates curiosity. 

Another approach is to confess aloud that everyone has a process, for good reason, and then paint the picture of what can happen without it. Given the recent collapse of several well-known firms due to lack of oversight, it should not be hard to tell a story that will capture the prospect’s attention.

You may fear bringing fear into the conversation, but fear not. Your brief depiction of what happens when money is invested without due diligence can make your process all the more attractive and interesting.

Another way to draw attention to your process is to FLAG it. FLAGGING is a verbal technique that professors use when they say, “What I’m about to present to you will be on the test.” Students wake up and take notes at that moment.

You can use the same technique to encourage prospects to focus on what otherwise might be a dry recitation of a complex diagram or set of bullet points.

For example, you could say, “What I’m about to tell you may seem boring and routine–you may think you’ve heard it all before–but it is the most important and powerful thing we do to protect your assets and ultimately your purchasing power.”

And then off you go, with the prospect leaning forward intent on understanding how you protect and preserve his hard-earned wealth.