For every entrepreneur, it’s a dream come true, but also a potential nightmare: the elevator pitch. No other situation is fraught with so much risk, yet filled with so much opportunity. Face to face with a potential customer, partner or investor, you have mere seconds to bring to life how you do what you do better than anyone else on the planet. No pressure, right?
As executives we often have a plan. A quick new vision to execute. Seems simple enough. We explain it. Our smart employees nod their heads, taking the assignment with perceived understanding and we move on to the next order of business. But, then the outcome somehow leaves us…well, wanting. The following example illustrates why.
People are often surprised to learn I have nine children. And that they’re all from the same amazing woman I’ve been married to for 24 years. Even more amazing is that she’s stayed in great shape, wakes with a smile each day and still greets us with a sense of love and humor.
Step 1: Understand the 3 Overriding Areas of the 10 Elements
Over the next 10 blogs in this series we will look at 10 basic elements that should be considered as you forecast. But, they are more easily understood if grouped into 3 areas:
#1: Trust
What are the best measures that show they trust you enough to buy?
One thing I’ve noticed that I’ve always found fascinating is that often the size of the pipeline displayed is inversely proportional to performance. Over and over we see completely underperforming reps who report 2 to 5x the pipeline listed by the quota busting reps. It’s as if they believe they can make up for poor performance with sheer volume on an excel page.