People care more about why you do what you do than exactly what you do.

This elevator pitch has been constructed with this in mind. Memorize this and you will never again stumble over your words when anyone asks, “So what do you do?”

I get big checks to people when bad things happen.

(PAUSE. You want to let them respond here. Almost everyone will say something like, “Like what kind of bad things??” Making your elevator pitch a dialogue instead of a monologue is powerful.)

It seems like you can’t jump on Facebook anymore without seeing a new Go Fund Me page for a local family struggling financially because of cancer or a heart problem or an injury or disability or open a newspaper without seeing a benefit dinner or 5k being run to help out.

(PAUSE so they can respond with a “Totally” or something similar.)

The thing a lot of people don’t realize is that it typically isn’t the medical bills that sink people, because most folks have solid health insurance. It is all of the other stuff. Most people battling cancer, for instance, will be off work for a year or more, but on top of that, they now have an extra $20,000-$50,000 of added expenses each year between travel expenses, co-pays, and other things you just don’t think about until going through it. So we help families setup a slush fund for themselves they can access whenever things go sideways.

(PAUSE for positive response.)

What is really cool is we don’t really advertise this product, so instead of spending millions on ads, we do a return of premium. If someone needs it their coverage is there, but if they don’t, they refund 100% of the premiums.

(PAUSE for positive response)

Don’t you wish home and auto insurance worked that way!

(PAUSE for agreement)

I absolutely love that it is such a win-win for people.

If this is early in your career:

Right now I am just looking forward to getting started – maybe I can practice on you to get warmed up! (laugh)

If it is a networking event:

After finishing the elevator pitch immediately turn it back around and ask more questions about what they do and then wrap up eventually with:

Well I would love to grab a cup of coffee with you at some point and get to know your business a little better!