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What's Your Elevator Pitch?

Can you tell someone what you do in the time it takes to ride 10 floors in an elevator? If you can, then you've got what is sometimes referred to as "an elevator pitch". No one wins legal business by simply delivering an elevator pitch to a stranger. But the elevator pitch is a useful tool in your marketing arsenal. It is something that you probably should draw upon when you meet someone new.

What is more important, however (and something that is lost on many lawyers) is that good listening skills are much more critical if you want to sell professional services. Being a good listener opens up a relationship. Listening helps you understand why and how an individual might need your services. Most importantly, being a good listener shows that you are truly interested in the other person; and that is what will build the relationship and ultimately make the person want to do business with you.

This is not a new concept. Dale Carnegie noted the importance of listening almost a hundred years ago in the first edition of How to Win Friends and Influence People. But there are always new ways to say this and Alan Weiss, Ph.D., a contributing editor to Rain Today, has done it nicely here.

Full post as published by Counsel to Counsel on November 07, 2007 (boomark / email).