Elevating Your ‘Elevator Pitch’
Elevator Pitches have become part of pop culture and likely conjure up images of a couple of fast-talking entrepreneurs selling their new concept or product to investors on a television show like Shark Tank. However, the Elevator Pitch isn’t just good for pushing ideas and products. When properly constructed, it can also be a very effective career development tool.
The Elevator Pitch and Career Development
Elevator Pitches are short, concise statements meant to “pitch” an idea, product or project — something that could be executed on, say, an elevator ride (and thus the name). The purpose of the Elevator Pitch is to portray as much information as possible in a very short amount of time and to do so in a way that is both interesting and memorable.
On Shark Tank, for instance, business owners pitch their product or company in hopes of convincing celebrity investors to invest — but in career development, both the pitch and the audience are a bit different. Instead of a product, the pitch is for, well — YOU. In the career and professional development scenario, the Elevator Pitch is an opportunity to showcase yourself, the experience you have, what you do and, maybe, what you want to do.
Likewise, rather than pitching to an investor, you could be presenting to a new networking contact, a potential client or even a future employer. Essentially, you are communicating who you are and what you do in hopes of discovering synergy with your audience.
Elements of a Good Elevator Pitch
Pitches are as unique as the person doing the pitching, so will differ depending on the situation. However, the primary components of a successful pitch are the same. Good Elevator Pitches are:
Simple.
Clarity matters when you only have a few moments to get your point across, so keep it simple. Avoid jargon, complicated concepts or big words. Stick to short sentences and try to use universal themes rather than esoteric references. Of course, simple doesn’t mean you need to minimize your skills and experiences — it only means you should communicate them choosing every word carefully to maximize impact.
Authentic.
Where simple helps in a time crunch, honesty helps to build report. It can be tempting to treat your Elevator Pitch as a sales technique — and arguably Elevator Pitches are just that — but taking a sales approach may lead to exaggeration or hyperbole to make the pitch look/sound better. That might work on Shark Tank, but in career development you are looking for synergy, not sales. Be true to yourself and your skills to make a real connection with your audience.
Centered.
More than anything, your career focused Elevator Pitch is a tool meant to connect you with whomever you are pitching, so it is important that the focus of the pitch is on you. Talk about your role, what makes you unique, and how your experiences align with your audience. Don’t spend too much time talking about elements that steer away from the message you are trying to convey about yourself and your abilities. For instance, don’t spend all your time talking about “the team” unless you are pitching “the team”. Focus on you.
Confident.
Lastly, the Elevator Pitch should be perceived by your audience as fact. Delivery must be clear, and as the deliverer, you must be ready to stand beside what you are pitching. Prepare the pitch so that it can withstand questions, interruptions and new information. But most importantly, make sure YOU believe what you are saying. Connect with the message, and the message will connect with the audience.
Creating an Elevator Pitch
While initially it may feel like a complicated task, writing an Elevator Pitch can be relatively painless. It is a bit of a self-reflective exercise, but taking the time to think more critically about the pitch will make it more effective when delivered. A good Elevator Pitch answers three questions:
What do I want? | The first step is to understand the purpose for the Elevator Pitch. Are you trying to land a new client? A new job? Maybe you are just looking to add new people to your network. Whatever the case, you should be able to articulate “why” you are creating an Elevator Pitch, otherwise you will just be reciting a very small version of your resume.
What do I do? | Once you understand what you want the pitch to do, start focusing on what YOU do and the skills/experiences that you bring to the table. What are your specialties? What makes you and/or your business/practice unique? Do you have a particular approach to your profession that makes you stand apart from others doing the same thing? What is your superpower?
Now, this self-reflective exercise may be easy for some, but if you find yourself getting hung up, try shifting your approach. Instead of asking these questions of yourself, think instead about how someone who works with you might describe what you do from the outside looking in. It is a simple shift in perspective, but one that can get you over a self-reflective hump.
What is my hook? | The most important part of any pitch is the “hook”. The hook is the concept that connects the answers to the first two questions with the audience in front of you. In other words, the hook should answer the question, “Why does it matter?” Note that this is the part of the pitch that can change with the audience, so as you are crafting your Elevator Pitch, be sure to build in the flexibility to shift as needed.
Elevate your Pitch
A basic Elevator Pitch that hits the points above will no doubt prove to be a great tool — but to get the biggest impact, elevate your pitch by doing two additional things:
Know it cold.
An Elevator Pitch is only as good as the delivery. Once crafted, practice delivering it. Then, practice delivering it again. Once committed to memory, deliver the pitch to a mentor or professional confidant. Ask for feedback. Then, practice it again.
The purpose of practice is not to make it rote, but to make it clear — yet even a well rehearsed pitch can face challenges. The reality is that opportunities to deliver an Elevator Pitch rarely occur in an actual elevator or a quiet space where there are no distractions. As a result, if you really want to have the pitch down cold, practice it distracted. Turn on your favorite show, crank the volume on the radio or set your phone alarm to go off midway through — do whatever you can to create a truly distracted environment in which to practice. If you can deliver a good Elevator Pitch while completely distracted, you are more likely to also be able to do so in a crowded room or when the pressure is on.
Know how to change it.
As mentioned earlier, a good Elevator Pitch has flexibility. While the “hook” is the place where flexibility tends to be a necessity, knowing how to make the rest of the pitch adaptable will take your pitch to the next level.
Think about how certain parts of the pitch could or should adapt to change. What experience do you have that might not be relevant every time you do your pitch, but could be useful in certain situations? Are there elements you could elaborate on if given a longer pitch window? Or, maybe you simply take time to think through questions that might arise and ensure you have answers prepared.
Knowing what you would change and when to do so makes that single Elevator Pitch you created applicable to different situations. Now you not only have one tool, you have multiple.
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