A few weeks ago, a colleague and I were waiting outside a client’s office building in (lovely) Jersey City, NJ. Before you get the wrong idea, this wasn’t the good part of Jersey City.  Anyway, the client was late, and we couldn’t enter the badge-controlled building.  After a short time, a man approached the building, produced his badge, and opened the front door.  We asked if he could let us on the elevator so we could wait for our customer in a more comfortable (and safer) place.

The man also happened to be going to the fourth floor. Our customer was his neighbor, although he knew very little about them. Once in the elevator he asked, “What are you doing with the company?” I seized the opportunity to give him my elevator pitch.  After all, we were in the elevator.  I said “We are with Solution Selling®, and are working with their salespeople on how to understand their prospect’s business problems, BEFORE they talk about their company, products and services.”

Our host then asked, “How are they doing, if you don’t mind me asking?”  I replied, “They are 20% above last year, and that’s in a down economy.”  We thanked him for rescuing us and parted ways on the fourth floor.  Later that day, our client received a call from the man, asking to talk to the sales trainer.  Of course I was teaching. He then asked if we could have a cup of coffee the next morning. He was the founder of a company and he wanted more information on Solution Selling®.

This week, his company became a new customer of ours. The amazing thing is, it all started with the elevator pitch ….. IN THE ELEVATOR!!!