I go to a lot of networking meetings. They are a great place for me to connect with new clients, companies, and just… get out there. It’s not easy and sometimes it isn’t very fun. All the same, networking is a vital part of realizing professional success.
The last meeting I went to got me thinking about elevator speeches. Yuck! There are few things I dislike as much as I dislike the traditional elevator speech. They sound “canned”, uninteresting, and if you practice them too much, not only do they sound rehearsed, but they sound boring. And that is the last thing (as a job seeker) that you want to be.
You need to be interesting. Engaging. Compelling. H-I-R-E-A-B-L-E.
I’m going to go against the grain here by telling you my secret to the perfect elevator pitch. Don’t practice.
I need you to ask a few very simple questions to yourself. Once you have the answers, you have your pitch.
- What is your job target? “Hello. My name is Krista and I am a professional resume writer, business writer, and personal branding expert.”
- What is your favorite part of your job? “I love discovering the unique value proposition of each of my clients and love that moment when my clients open up their document and wonder – is that really me?”
- End with a call to action “I am currently taking new clients and would love the chance to sit down and talk. What do you need help with?”
Answer those 3 questions and you’ll have an elevator pitch that isn’t rehearsed. It’ll feel natural and best of all, it shouldn’t be scary!
I just gave a Workshop/Speech on ‘I Hate Elevator Speeches”.
Our attention spans have shortened. Social Media has shown how important it is to engage quickly. Twitter has shown that we think in sound bites. 30 seconds is longer than the average commercial. Doing an elevator speech is like fitting an elephant in a tutu. We need a better way. There is a very good chapter in “To Sell is Human”, which describes a better way to engage than what is traditionally called the elevator speech.
I agree that every communication we have needs to impactful in 15 seconds or less.
In my opinion, it goes back to confidence. The more confident you are, the easier it to have a clear “sense of self”. As long as you know who you are, it’s easy to get out the most impactful information in the shortest time span.