There are few offenses in business worse than challenging the validity of the near sacred “elevator speech,” the one-minute message verbalizing the unique qualities of what a salesperson does or sells.

When you talk to people, are you focused on the transaction or your interaction? A transactional encounter is one where you’re going through the motions to get the task or the discourse done. Maybe you are texting, talking on the phone to someone else or just dazed and confused, but the bottom line is that you’re not engaged with the other person or the process. Interaction occurs when two people are engaged in a dialogue or actively participating in the process.