Knowing When To Pitch

You are standing eye to eye with your ideal client.

But you are at a child's birthday party and they are currently asking you where the napkins are.

This is not a 'seize the moment' type of opportunity.

It is a 'tell them where the napkins are' type of moment.

It can be tempting to use whatever opportunity you can to #pitch for business - but sometimes you are in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The context may not be right.

The time may not be right.

They may have many other things that they are currently thinking about.

The most valuable lesson in creating your elevator pitch is to recognise where the 'elevator' is.

Technically you can read it as a situation that the person cannot escape from.

That does absolutely nothing for building a great relationship.

I prefer to think of it as the time when they are busy doing nothing - and so have the scope to make eye contact, smile, strike up a conversation for the expected time of this empty space.

If you catch them in the middle of something else, it is like screaming at the driver of a car going past you at 100mph.

It achieves nothing other than a sore throat.

So what do you do?

It may be the wrong time for the pitch - but the right time for just simple connection.

A smile.

A warm comment.

A napkin.

The best relationships are built slowly and respectfully - taking your time and waiting for the right moment is better than any words you can come up with at that moment.