In the movie Love and Other Drugs, Jake Gyllenhaal’s character Jamie starts a new job with drug giant Pfizer. As part of the long and involved training process to become a pharmaceutical sales rep, the new hires are required to practice the company’s sales pitch. To ensure they can rattle the spiel off quickly enough, trainees practice the pitch with a lighted match in their fingers, aiming to finish before the flame gets close enough to be painful.
It made me think: how often does a typical employee practice their company’s pitch? Further, can they even articulate it at all?
The CEO at a company I previously worked for used an interesting tactic to promote the importance of the elevator pitch to staff. During company-wide meetings, he would ask who could recite the pitch, and the employee who did the best job pocketed $50 on the spot. While this might seem trivial, it indeed put a spotlight on the importance of really knowing your company’s angle.
Can you clearly and succinctly explain what your company does, what the benefit is for a customer and how you’re different than the competition? If not, that may be a good goal for 2011.
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