Creating An Elevator Pitch
An elevator pitch is a brief overview at a very high level of you, your business, or businesses. It is dubbed so because it’s at inconvenient times like, in an elevator, that you usually meet important people you want to impress.
After you finish reading this post you’ll be prepared next time you step into an elevator be instead of fumbling your way through an impromptu 30 second speech and missing an opportunity.
For an example of an elevator pitch, you can view my own for this blog which is actually forms the first 3 paragraphs of the about page.
“Code My Own Road is a blog about helping programmers understand and implement internet business strategies.
In it I provide articles related to internet business tailored to an audience that knows the technical side. The articles are more technical than you would find on a “how to make money blog” and really speak to programmers at their understanding level.
I’m a programmer myself, so it’s like speaking directly to my peers who are also unhappy with the idea of staying in their 9-5 day job for the rest of their lives.”
How To Create A Casual Elevator Pitch
A lot of the time people create elevator pitches that sound rehearsed and generally come off as prepared. This is bad bad bad. An elevator pitch should first and foremost just sound like you are continuing a casual conversation, albeit absent of slang terms and poor grammar. Don’t use fancy words, keep it simple and to the point.
How Long Should An Elevator Pitch Be?
Timing should be around 30 seconds in my humble opinion. Anything longer than that and you’re not being concise enough and you’ll bore the poor bastards to death with whatever it is your rambling about. Word length should be approximately 100-150 words.
Testing Your Elevator Pitch
A great method of testing is to work on your family and friends. If you don’t have any, practise in the mirror.
Next time you give out a personal business card (which you should have even if you’re not in business yet), give it a try. Don’t worry if you stuff up, I do it all the time. The key is just to try and sound as casual as you can while getting your main points across. It’s best if you start using it on non-important people as you won’t be concerned with them if you bugger it up.
Create A Personal Elevator Pitch For What You’re All About
One of the most awkward, yet inevitable questions that crop up when you mean someone new is, “What do you do for a living?”. Well, the easiest response is, you guessed it, an elevator pitch. Try creating a personal elevator pitch for yourself. It’s a great way to self analyse what you want to change about your life as well. If you’re struggling, just jot down a few key points that you think people might perceive you as and confirm your assumptions with someone you trust. This can be the basis for your elevator pitch, and also give you a platform from which to improve yourself.
The Options Are Limitless
As you can imagine, you can create pitches for every business you’re in and depending on who you’re talking to, whip one out in an instant.
Being conversational in tone, this makes elevator pitches easier to remember than regular speeches. You shouldn’t need to practise it too much to get it into your mid-long term memory. Remember, the more you use it, the more casual and effective it will become.
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