What is your offline "elevator pitch"?

The great thing about offline and local marketing is that there is no shortage of opportunities to sell yourself. You never know when a potential client may present themselves (while dining at a restaurant and the owner comes over to ask how the meal was, when at a bar and you over-hear the woman on the phone next to you talking about her business, when at an event or party and a friend makes an introduction, etc, etc, etc).

In those instances, you have just a moment to move from pleasentries to something that might spark their interest in discussing business. You always have to have a mini-elevator pitch ready to go to spark their interest.

Here's mine (feel free to steal it a try it out): "Like you, I am a business owner. It is my job to help businesses like yours get more customers and more revenue."

Now, how do you naturally bridge from making pleasentries to making your mini-pitch? It's pretty easy...

With the restaurant example above, you might answer the owners question about your meal with: "Excellent, thank you! Great service too, and I appreciate that you came over personally as the owner... Like you, I am an business owner... etc."

With the bar example above, you might say (once she hangs up her phone): "Business owners never get a break, even when trying to enjoy a beer. Cheers! Like you, I am a business owner... etc."

Btw, you can substitute "owner" for other titles as approporiate to the situation (maybe the person isn't the "owner" of the restaurant, but is the manager of it). You can say "I am a business manager" or "I run a business" instead.

I have found that an intriquing elevator pitch can draw folks into a conversation that might just end up profiting you. I have several clients that I would never have had if I did not use my mini-elevator pitch.

What is your mini-pitch?