I was reminded today of a phrase I heard from Jeffrey Hayzlett (ex-CMO at Kodak).
He was talking about "The Elevator Pitch" - 2.0
He calls it "The 118" -- as in: "you have 118 seconds to get your point across".
His position is that the average adult's attention span is 8 seconds -- that's all the time someone has to make an initial impact. The other 110 seconds, what Jeffrey claims is the average time an elevator ride lasts in NYC, is how long you have to "sell" him/her.
Phrased differently, if you are preparing a long-winded presentation, hoping to impress me, you are approaching this the wrong way.
Obviously, you will not be able to come up with the correct words and to structure your position/proposition in that short a time period without some serious preparation and practice.
... so heads-up, make sure you practice!
I got a cold call today, from someone talking 100-miles-an-hour, hoping to impress me by throwing out names of well known, major companies, who he claimed were clients -- *yawn*!
After 30 seconds he had not even begun to get close to his point, after 120 seconds I still had not heard his value proposition ... so I cut him off.
I explained he had failed to "hook" me, that I was not trying to be rude, however I was very busy and I just did not have the time to sit and listen to the stuff he was rattling off.
It became apparent he was annoying me.
My parting words were that he needed to practice his 118 and I gave Mr. Hayzlett and his book "The Mirror Test" a "plug".
You are welcome Jeffrey.
Now I need to go practice my own 118 ...
Summer vacation is over people, let's get with the program!
He was talking about "The Elevator Pitch" - 2.0
He calls it "The 118" -- as in: "you have 118 seconds to get your point across".
His position is that the average adult's attention span is 8 seconds -- that's all the time someone has to make an initial impact. The other 110 seconds, what Jeffrey claims is the average time an elevator ride lasts in NYC, is how long you have to "sell" him/her.
Phrased differently, if you are preparing a long-winded presentation, hoping to impress me, you are approaching this the wrong way.
Obviously, you will not be able to come up with the correct words and to structure your position/proposition in that short a time period without some serious preparation and practice.
... so heads-up, make sure you practice!
I got a cold call today, from someone talking 100-miles-an-hour, hoping to impress me by throwing out names of well known, major companies, who he claimed were clients -- *yawn*!
After 30 seconds he had not even begun to get close to his point, after 120 seconds I still had not heard his value proposition ... so I cut him off.
I explained he had failed to "hook" me, that I was not trying to be rude, however I was very busy and I just did not have the time to sit and listen to the stuff he was rattling off.
It became apparent he was annoying me.
My parting words were that he needed to practice his 118 and I gave Mr. Hayzlett and his book "The Mirror Test" a "plug".
You are welcome Jeffrey.
Now I need to go practice my own 118 ...
Summer vacation is over people, let's get with the program!
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