Ever bumped into an old friend, former client or the big boss and when they’ve asked what you do, you struggled to get it across? You need an elevator pitch. This is a short, pre-prepared blurb/spiel that explains what you or your company does, clearly and succinctly. Follow these steps to craft your elevator pitch.
🔅 Identify your goal. Do you want to tell people about your organisation? Do you have a great new product idea that you want to pitch to an executive? Or do you want a simple and engaging speech to explain what you do for a living?
🔅 Explain what you do. Focus on the problems that you solve and how you help people. If you can, add a statistic that shows the value in what you do.
🔅 Identify your unique selling proposition. Communicate this after you’ve explained what you do.
🔅 Engage with a question. As you close your elevator pitch, make sure to ask an open-ended question that allows the individual to answer. This can help engage the person in a longer conversation.
🔅 Pull it all together. Read it aloud and time how long it takes. It should be no longer than 20-30 seconds. Otherwise, you risk losing the person’s interest, or monopolising the conversation.
🔅 PRACTICE. Like anything else, practice makes perfect.