The Basics of An Elevator Pitch

One of my favorite bloggers lately, Penelope Trunk, just posted about first impressions and thinking about this in a business context reminded me of a quote I once heard: “If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.” Assuming the person you’re giving a first impression to is still standing in front of you after they take in your visual impression (or even if they’re running away) the first words out of your mouth (or that you yell as they flee) need to be crafted for maximum verbal impression.