Get Your Elevator Pitch Right

We’ve all heard of the 'elevator pitch', right? The one where we find ourselves in the lift (aka elevator) with the CEO/boss/person who can make Big Decisions, and make a winning pitch to them before the lift reaches their (top) floor. In some big cities, that’s going to take quite some time; in others it might be a minute. But you get the point: keep it short, simple and sweet. So how do you create your elevator pitch? Try these 6 tips:

1. Craft a short speech that covers: who you are, what you are currently working on and what the benefits of that project are. Feel free to add in other points such as why you’re excited about it or how it builds on a prior success.
2. Get it written down. You may want to write up some bullet points on an index card, scribble a Post-It flurry, make a Mind Map, or dictate a first draft to a transcription app.
3. Get on your feet and read it aloud. Sitting muttering your elevator pitch will only prepare you for… sitting and muttering. Run through it once or twice and time yourself using a stopwatch or digital timer.
4. Edit and refine your pitch to ensure it’s coming in at about two minutes.
5. Now record your practice pitch, play it back and note where you may be able to add greater emphasis, a killer statistic, a pause or a question.
6. One or two more run-throughs and you’re good to go - all you have to do now is make sure you’re in the right elevator at the right time!

This process gets you in the habit of being succinct and to the point. It’s great if you have a tendency to waffle or find you can get tongue-tied talking to influencers.

Have two or three elevator pitches on the go at the same time. You might have one for upcoming networking events to ensure you make a great first-time impression. You may have another for updating your clients. A third might be for the senior managers in your organisation about what it is you’re working on and how it will benefit them.