Elevator Pitch: The Most Important, Persuasive Tool in Your Career
By: Trevor Venegas, Rockstar in Training
Close your eyes and imagine you have the ability to make any executive listen to one of your ideas. It may not be simple, but a well-written and rehearsed elevator pitch is definitely one step toward obtaining that superpower.
Elevator pitches can be the key to proposing plans in an organized and clear fashion by explaining quick bullet point summaries of you or your product. The pitch is typically no longer than 30 seconds as it is designed for time-constrained scenarios to relay information quickly and efficiently.
Elevator pitches are useful in many situations and there will always be opportunities to use them in every day life. According to an article written in Forbes titled “The Perfect Elevator Pitch To Land A Job,” an elevator pitch should clarify your objective (who you are and what you have to bring to the table), explain what the audience has to gain (why the person should listen to you), and be concise and to the point to avoid wasting the person’s time.
Picture the CEO or entrepreneur you would be reciting your elevator pitch to. This man or woman is a notable, busy person who may not have time for a personal meeting about a product or service they may know nothing about. But somehow, you have made it into the same elevator as that person and they now have a short amount of time, until they reach their floor.
It is your job now to impress the CEO or entrepreneur to the highest extent before they leave the elevator, making it impossible for him or her to forget who you are. You need to differentiate yourself from the other people who may have begged for this person’s attention. They may not be interested in your product or service at this time, but if you leave a lasting impression with them, you could be hearing from them in the future.
Prepare for these moments and know your speech like the back of your hand so that you’ll have no issue when you finally get a chance to put it to the test.
