Pro tip: I stopped pitching my business at the Eastern Market meetup and started asking one question instead

I was at the weekly Detroit SOUP event in Eastern Market last month, handing out my plumbing flyer like usual. A guy running a local hardware store just looked at it and said, 'Cool, but what's the one thing you wish more people knew about their pipes?' I told him about how many emergency calls are from people ignoring small leaks. He said, 'See, that's useful. Lead with that.' Now at every event, I ask people, 'What's your biggest headache with your home's water?' It gets way better conversations than my old elevator pitch. Anyone else found a simple question that works better than a sales spiel?

3 comments

3 Comments

victor_carr252mo ago

That part about the hardware store guy saying "Lead with that" is spot on. I used to try and explain my whole service menu to people at these things. Now I just ask if they've ever had a plant that looked fine but died for no clear reason. The answers are way more interesting, and I don't have to watch their eyes glaze over while I talk about soil pH.

christopher4022mo ago

Tried the "just be clear" approach once. Spent ten minutes explaining my job to a guy who just wanted to know where the bathroom was.

grantt112mo ago

Honestly that whole "just ask a question" thing feels overplayed now. Everyone's trying to be clever instead of just being clear. Sometimes people actually want to know what you do without playing twenty questions first. A good pitch is just honest information, not a trick.