The elevator pitch is dead.

I won’t speak for people who are angling for a job interview or trying to sell their services. However, for people who are trying to build support for nonprofit organizations, the elevator pitch is dead.

The reason is simple: Nobody likes to be talked at.

You’re standing there at the nonprofit wine tasting event your partner dragged you to, making small talk about the canapes, and next thing you know the person next to you is saying,

I serve on the board of This Nonprofit. This Nonprofit works to [mission statement, many, many words]. We accomplish this goal by [one thing, two thing, red thing, blue thing – it’s always a list of three or four]. Last year we achieved an [X percent] increase in [something we want to increase]. This year we’re [doing something else]. To accomplish our goals, we need more financial support from people like you.

From the second sentence, you’ve been looking for a way out.

Conversation is supposed to be a two-way street, not a steamroller.

In fact, I’ll go further. Communication is a two-part process:
1. Sending, whether speaking or writing
2. Receiving, whether listening or reading

Communication does not take place when you speak. Communication takes place when the other person “completes the circuit” by receiving – really taking in -what you say.

That’s why we should replace elevator pitches with targeted conversations.

Like every other nonprofit communication, quick descriptions of your organization’s work should be governed by the needs and interests of the audience, not the organization.

The way to learn about the needs and interests of the audience is to listen to them – to conduct a conversation, not a monologue.

An obvious way the board member in my scenario went wrong was not asking what you already know about This Nonprofit or how you feel about its work.

Another was asking (in however wimpy a way) for money at the end of a 30-second pitch.

You can’t go from 0 to 60 in 30 seconds.

In a short conversation, you can get from 0 to 10 or from 40 to 45. You can move someone a little way along a continuum of engagement.

Ignorance or apathy -> knowledge -> interest -> engagement

In a short conversation, you might be able to move a person from knowledge to interest, from interest to engagement, or maybe only from “enough interest to come along because my partner dragged me” to “enough interest to look up your website.”

Any of those would be an accomplishment – and much better than boring people or insulting their intelligence with a canned pitch.

You can move people only if you know where they’re standing right now on the continuum of engagement. Obviously the way to find out is to ask a question.

• Have you come to this event before?
• What’s your relationship to This Nonprofit?
• What do you think about [This Nonprofit’s mission or issue]?

And then really listen to the answer. Ask a follow-up question. See if you can get to what motivates your respondent. Then you’re ready to engage this person in a conversation about your nonprofit and why its work is so vital.