4 Simple Steps to perfect your Elevator Pitch
By Ash Rao - Career Coach /Corp Recruiter - Dallas
Elevator Pitch is a brief persuasive speech that you use to spark interest in what you or your company does. It is a powerful and concise description of you, your company or product and should last no longer than a short elevator ride!
I have often been asked by seasoned professionals that how could they possibly condense their whole experience or their entire product/idea into a 30secs- 2 mins pitch and make an impact on the listener? Sure! It is possible and this article outlines how and why you need the perfect pitch!
Crafting an elevator pitch sounds easy, but is surely challenging. In a very short span of time, your message should have a positive impact on the listener and make them want to know you more, or explore your product/service or invest in your idea.
Whether you are in an interview room selling yourself to get that dream job, or in a meeting room with investors selling your startup idea to secure funding , or meeting to close a deal, proposing a partnership or collaboration, you need to make the perfect pitch !
And yes, let us admit that not all of us love to sell – you may be good at your job, have a great resume with loads of valuable skills or have a path breaking idea for a product/service, but without being able to articulate what you do in a clear, concise format, the message will be lost and you will end up losing the opportunity not because you did not have the talent but purely because you weren’t able to communicate your worth in the given short span of time.
So time to embrace sales, follow these ground rules and pitch perfectly!
Identify the need first and then propose a solution
It is important to first understand and showcase the need first before offering a solution.
If this is a job interview, you should be thorough with what the required skills are so that you can map your experience accordingly and then prove how you can contribute to the role.
If you are trying to pitch in a product, you should be able to explain the underlying need first and then follow it up with how your product /service can provide value and help fulfil the need.
Avoid Industry Jargon
The elevator Pitch should be simple, short and memorable. It should be easy enough to be understood by your grandparents and kids!! So avoid industry acronyms/jargons and use simple yet powerful words while communicating what you do and how you can help solve the problem.
Practice
No matter how perfect your pitch is, if you don’t practice you will falter when the opportunity comes knocking. It is important to practice your pitch loud, practice it in writing, practice in front of friends /family or anyone who can give you critical feedback and perfect your pitch.
Connect with your audience
While focusing on delivering the perfect pitch after several practice sessions, make sure that your pitch does not sound robotic either. It is very important to connect with your target audience and sometimes customize it to provide value to them by addressing their specific need.
For example, when interviewing for a recruiter role, pitching in a standard way as this “I am a human resources professional with 10 years’ experience working in both agency and corporate environments” will sound plain and not relevant.
Instead if conveyed as “I am a human resources professional with a strong track record in identifying and recruiting top-level talent into management” will definitely make it more relevant and will have a positive impact on the listener.
Elevator Pitch Example
Click HERE to watch a perfect pitch wherein the presenter delivers a perfect pitch of his product Slap Wrap Straps
Note how he starts off the pitch by first stating the problem that is relevant to the target audience, and immediately proposes a solution which promises to be easy and quick and then goes on to define the product and its functions clearly . He also adds in a line of credibility to the product by associating the product with other reliable brands and highlighting the successful partnerships to leave a positive impression about the product and finally ends the pitch with an engaging proposal.
Putting it all together,
Remember Elevator Pitch is NOT the pitch where you say all the valuable skills you have or all the wonderful features of your product/service.
This is the pitch where you say those few important things to your target audience which will most likely make them want to know you better and explore your credentials/product/service further.
If you follow all the above pointers, then you are ready to deliver your best pitch anywhere, anytime, and not just in an elevator!
Take stab at crafting a good pitch. Share your first few lines (or your entire pitch) in the comment section below!
About the Author
Ash Rao is an established Talent Acquisition specialist and a Certified Professional Career Coach. With a Master’s degree in Human Resources and over 10+ years of experience in HR and recruiting/staffing, she is adept at building long lasting client relationships, social media recruiting , career coaching for professionals and building effective job search strategies for career seekers.
Ash currently works as a senior Global Talent Acquisition Specialist at Verizon Labs and also provides 1-on-1 career coaching to new college grads and mid-level executives during weekends and after business hours and specializes in resume writing, interview training, building effective LinkedIn presence, dress for success training.
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