Crafting A Creative Elevator Pitch Using The Greetings Game

Have you ever noticed how politicians and celebrities use the same phrases over and over again when being interviewed. In fact politicians are actually trained to keep repeating set phrases because of the belief that repetition is what works. The danger is they end up looking robotic and not really connecting on a human level.

And in business we're told that we should have a 30second elevator pitch, a short series of crafted words the describes what we do. It usually goes something like "I help (fill in target market), to do (insert the name of your service), so that they can (make more money, have more freedom, or whatever.

But here's the problem. It's boring and you can come across like an automaton. I would argue a better way is using what the writer and games designer Bernie DeKoven calls the "Greetings Game". Here's how it works. At a networking event or conference the game is to never introduce yourself in the same way twice. By all means have the key points of your elevator pitch or well crafted introduction in your head but improvise around it. So with the first person I meet I might tell how I am a keynote speaker on creativity but end with a question such as "what's the most creative thing happening in your business just now" then with the next person I will make a point of saying nothing about myself until I've spent at least 10minutes finding out about them and making a real connection.

So give the Greetings Game a shot. After you've introduced yourself in a 100 different ways you can do away with the old boring elevator pitch and really focus on connecting with the person in front or you and providing value.

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