When I first made the transition from being a journalist to working in the world of public relations, a mentor gave me the following tip: When you get a reporter on the phone, you only have about 10 seconds to prove you have a story worth their interest. If you can’t wow them in the first 10 seconds, you’ve lost them.

I was reminded of this lesson at the 2023 InsurTech Insights USA conference in New York City in June. There I participated in the conference’s speed-dating-style networking structure. It afforded me the chance to meet with nearly 30 different companies in less than two days.

What became apparent in those rapid-fire meet-and-greet meetings – and was noted by several of those with whom I met – was that many of them struggled with their elevator pitch.

These were brilliant minds: data scientists, computer programmers, academics, serial entrepreneurs and financial geniuses. Their struggle was in capturing the attention of their listeners in the first moments of meeting. This wasn’t just my observation; several told me this was the biggest challenge they faced as they took their start-up or early-stage companies to market. Given the highly technical nature of many of their insurtech models, clearly and succinctly connecting what they did with a business case for their prospect proved challenging. In fact, it was one of the major reasons some wanted to talk to me. They wanted assistance in getting their message out to stakeholders.

What I shared was another lesson I learned long ago as a young reporter: people care about stories they can relate to or in which they see something that reminds them of themselves. Yes, business professionals want to know how a particular product or service improves their bottom line. But before you can get to the features and benefits, you must be able to tell a story that will capture their attention. That’s the secret to a great elevator pitch, winning over the prospect in a sales meeting or capturing the imagination and interest of a reporter.

If you can develop a great story that has a dynamic and recognizable opening, based on use or case studies or even your business’s origin story, and give it a strong opening that will grab the listener, you’ve won their attention. And with that attention, you can present your product or service to a more receptive and engaged audience. That is how you effectively communicate value.

Many businesses, well established or otherwise, share this same struggle. Engineers, financiers, technologists and entrepreneurs rarely study communications in school or launch their professional careers focused on telling great stories. They focused on their expertise and problems to be solved. Having a talented communications team behind them can improve an organization’s ability to better connect the problem to be solved with a helpful product or service. That is the X-factor in countless success stories waiting to be told.