Story time!
Grab some coffee and cookies and get comfy while I take you on the tale of ‘The BC Elevator Pitch’
The focus of this story is on the importance to you of having a clear concise value-laden business continuity elevator pitch. If you do not have one I encourage you to develop a short version (30 second or less) and a longer version (31 seconds to 1 minute maximum). Develop them as soon as possible:
- An elevator pitch will help you make a great first impression.
- It will eliminate the possibility of a disastrous first impression.
- First impressions are really important.
- You never get a second chance at a first impression.
Your business continuity elevator pitch must concisely convey the enormous value you and business continuity bring to your organization. Until you have your elevator pitch ready be very careful who you share an elevator ride with. The last thing you want is for Big Shot Vice President (BSVP) to bump into you in the elevator and the following horror story unfolds. I promise you, it will keep you up at night replaying shoulda, woulda, coulda…so if you do not know that person next to you make believe you just got a call and take the next elevator until you are ready to pitch.
Hey, if you don’t prepare, who will!
The BC Elevator Pitch – ‘based on a true story’
Starring: Billy B. Boring as himself
Co Starring: Big Shot VP as herself
Scene 1 setup:
Time: 11am – Billy B. Boring’s first day at Always Available Investments and Trading …
Please read the next sentence in your best Rod Serling Twilight Zone Voice
‘I submit for your approval Billy B. Boring, a freshly minted Business Continuity Analyst. It is his first day on the job and unbeknownst to him he is about to enter the Business Continuity Twilight Zone; in ‘The Elevator Ride to Nowhere’. Now the Twilight Zone music plays – DooDoo DooDoo DooDoo DooDoo – Brrrrrrr.
Action!
Billy B. Boring just completed his mandatory two hour HR indoctrination. ‘Wow’, he sighs, ‘it feels like it is 5pm. It’s only 11am? Did my watch stop?‘
Sorry Billy the meeting was a marathon but it really is still Monday morning. The good news is it is time to go up to the 72nd floor to meet with your new BC teammates.
The tiny 5’x5’ elevator door opens. Although this bandbox has seen better days (definitely a 1930’s relic) Billy rushes in and presses the well-worn copper button for the 72nd floor. Haltingly, the door grinds shut. Immediately, Billy starts sweating as he flashbacks to 1993 and the time he got stuck between floors for 1 hour in 100 Wall Street. That event freaked him out and he has never been the same.
Immediately Billy feels a presence over his right shoulder. Well, look who is standing shoulder-to-shoulder with him? Yup, it’s Big Shot VP (BSVP.). Billy briefly shook hands with her a couple of weeks ago during his final interview. Of course, at that time his hands were dripping with sweat from interview anxiety. Today it is claustrophic anxiety – sort of a sweeter, more pageant sweat. Wow today is his lucky day.
BSVP’s office is in the penthouse on the 75th floor. The button is faintly lit. Billy was never great at math but he rattles off some quick calculations and approximates the travel time in this tin can of an elevator – 1 Mississippi, 2 Mississippi, 3 Mississippi – 2nd floor – his calculations (carry the 1) indicate it will take almost two minutes to get to his vertical destination. Why couldn’t his office have been on the 6th floor?
By the 7 floor Billy is a wreck, the elevator is belching and wheezing and it is only going to get worse kiddo. BSVP glances over at him and says, “hey, do I know you? What do you do around here?’
Oh s!*t we’re off to the races. Sorry Billy, you can’t go home and get under the covers – you have officially entered the Twilight Zone.
His comeback is brilliant (haha), ‘well I’m Billy B. Boring, I am the new BC guy. You pay me to do BIA’s, DA’s, RA’s because I have a CBCP’.
BSVP: huh, what did you say?
Billy has a few more acronyms BSVP won’t give a crap about but Billy is going to have to tell her anyway. They do sound fancy so he starts slinging: ‘I also figure out RTO’s, RPO’s, build RACI charts and when I have all of that finished two years from now I put it in a plan!’
Billy Boring, WTF did you just do?
BSVP is so glazed over by now she is the one with the anxiety sweats. In fact, she is so glazed over she should be on the second rack at Dunkin.
She instantly taps the button for the 12th floor – yeah you’re only approaching 12 buddy. Hey, she didn’t get to her lofty position without thinking on her feet. It is life or death in her mind, a few more acronyms and she might be brain-dead by the 18th floor. Billy is slinging like an out of control pitching machine at a dusty arcade.
She literally spits out (so keep your distance): ‘Billy, sounds like that mumbo jumbo might mean something (yeah right) to somebody but I just realized I have to get off at 12 to speak with HR about someone. It sort of just came up. You enjoy your day here.’
Billy is rightfully concerned – ‘how could it ‘just come up’ if it is just me and BSVP?’
End of Scene 1
Ok, so maybe we can learn from this career crisis event. Some sage Do’s and Don’t’s from someone who has been there, done that and learned from his ways:
- When trying to make an impression don’t sling an endless stream of fancy acronyms only you and a fellow ACBP, CBCP or MBCP can decypher (yikes, now I’m doing it!)
- Do make the pitch all about them. Show the value as it applies to the person and the company
- Do make it simple and clear. Sort of like you are designing the business continuity pitch version of the iPhone
- Do let them know you keep the business going when faced with any type of disruptive event. You can even guaranty it because if the business does go under you are gone anyway
- Do remind them of the big storm when poor competitor ‘YouPickIt Company’ got crushed by that hurricane and had no tested business continuity plans. Shareholder lawsuits, all jobs lost..’ It is very effective.. You keep people in jobs so they can lead happy lives, send their kids to school and pay their bills. Try it – they will noddingly agree with the true horror story.
- Do let them know how you will become uniquely familiar with all of the processes and how they interact. This will enable you to point out ways to improve processes, increase efficiency, save them money and make them lots more money.
Do the above and you probably will get an invite to the next upper management luncheon. Hey, by now I want to hire you!
The best part is, everything in your value laden elevator pitch is true or should be if you are doing your job.
SELL YOURSELF! Make it 30 seconds they will never forget! Make them want seek you out when they see you in the hall, instead of running the other way. When they get off that elevator make them wish it was going to the 150th floor!
