How To Do a 30-Second Elevator Pitch
By leadership author and keynote speaker Ross Shafer
Hi I’m Ross Shafer and I want to thank you for finding the Relevant Leaders Club where each week I post a video on how to build your business or your career. This week I want to talk to you about how you can be more interesting in an elevator… literally. I’m talking about how to give a better Elevator Pitch. Some people call it an Elevator speech; it’s the story you tell to explain what you do in 30 seconds or less.
The term “elevator pitch” was popularized when skyscrapers started whisking the people up and down 30 or 40 stories of a building. It was the first time you could capture a potential customer’s undivided attention for 30 floors. Elevators were slower in those days so if you traveled 10 floors, you’d have about 30 seconds to explain why somebody should hire you.
I’ll give you the formula but the first rule is, don’t spew out a boring job title: “I’m a field rep for medical testing.” Job titles are conversation killers. Instead, think of the pitch as a 3-part solution to a problem. Part 1: get the person’s interest by stating a problem; Part 2: tell the person how you provide a solution for that problem; Part 3: end the pitch by connecting the dots to help your elevator partner. Here’s how it might sound: Part 1: You’ve probably seen pro football players get knocked out during a game. Then, you see trainers carry the player off the field; Part 2: Well, my company administers a six-step sideline and locker room Concussion Protocol – to assess trauma and cognitive skills to determine if the player can go back into the game or if we start a timetable for treatment; Part 3: We offer the same injury analysis for other work-related injuries in your industry. We can actually lower healthcare costs for a company. That’s far more productive than, “It’s kind of hard to explain.”
Don’t wing-it when you’re trying to explain what you do. Write out and rehearse a short explanation that could open the door for a potential customer to ask for your business card. Create demand for what you do in less than 30 seconds. This process also works on escalators. ;-
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