Move up in the world with a great elevator speech

Need an Elevator Speech . . . Going Up?

One of my recent posts, I discussed ways to use the introduction of the story format to be the basis for one’s elevator speech.  Being an member of LinkedIn, I thought I would pose the question, “In your opinion, what are the ingredients to a great elevator speech or 30 second info-mercial for a networking event?”

Below is a summary of the responses I received from several forums on LinkedIn.

From Bernadette Ferrer

Kiss Method:
* Keep It Simple
* Intuitively plug into Audience
* Speak from the Heart
* Speak your Compelling Message
Breath Breath Breath

From  Geoff Baldwin

Tell them what you are going to say, say it, then tell them what you said!!
Not easy in a 30 sec / 1min session but the first and last bits can (and should) be short and sweet.    Keep to the point

From Mark Gellibert

Give your name,  mentioned subject,  confirm objectives,  control what you are saying,  say thank you to the audience.

From Peter Farren

The most important thing is to practice your speech before you go. Run it past a friend and see if you are using language that the ordinary person can understand. Speak slowly !

From  Matthew Jenkins

I agree with peter.   Know your stuff.   Nothing worse than a fumbled attempt at an elevator speech.   Probably best not saying anything over giving a bad impression.

From   Ken Wallin

Say what you do for your customer, in one open-ended statement. It should be fast, but thorough.   “I am a consultant, I help my clients with process improvement projects and I am a change manager.”
If there is any interest, the target will open the discussion with something like, “and how do you do that?” That means you have about 30 seconds to fill them in with a bit more detail and put the hook in at the end.

From  Praveen Malik

Excellent points. Speak passionately with positive body language without fumbling.

From  Joellen Sommer

Be crystal clear and stick to one critical niche message.

From   Walter Wise

Have a firm handshake. Look them in the eye. And as others said, KISS - Keep it Short and Simple. State your value up front “I am a Business Performance Improvement Specialist and I work with ……. to do ……” The idea is to get the other person to talk about them, not about you.

From  Dan Klein

The formula is simple, the execution is an art.  Assuming you have already engaged your prospect in conversation and the situation you want address has at least been touched on:
1) Always start with the customer or potential customer (feel their pain)
Don’t say “I do this” or “my company can do that.” Think more in terms of, “It sounds like you are trying to…” “From what you just said I gather that…”
2) Show empathy and experience in dealing with his/her kind of pain.         “I (or my company) worked with a client on a similar situation. They were experiencing… and we were able to help them by … saving them $xx (or whatever the quantifiable result was).”
3) Suggest how you can help relieve the pain. This is a tricky one because you do not want to sound glib. You’ll need to say things that will get him/her wanting to hear more
“While no two situations are exactly the same, I think my company’s expertise is well suited to helping you out. For example we might ….”
4) Suggest the two of you set up an appointment to go into more detail. The details includes you wanting to learn more about the situation so you can begin to craft a solution.
“Why don’t we set up some time to really delve into this and see how we can work together to….”
A couple of other tips:
Be really sure you understand the potential client and his/her business BEFORE you start pitching. Otherwise you are likely to come off as an idiot.
Keep your tone passionate, as others mentioned, but not aggressive or all-knowing.
This goes beyond the elevator pitch: always summarize what was accomplished in the meeting, list the action items and schedule the next meeting before you leave.

From   Ronald Rothman

An informative site is the Elevator Pitch Builder from Harvard Business School.  It “walks” you through the elements of creating a great pitch; and then analyzes your finished speech.
http://www.alumni.hbs.edu/careers/pitch

From      Rich Whitley

I suggest that you have a simple ONE LINE presentation of you, your product or your service. I believe the true objective of the “elevator speech” is to have the listener respond with “Really? Tell me more….”
Your doorway has just been opened. What you do from there is now a whole new game.

From      Ike Krieger

I have a different take.  In business and in life we want to present ourselves in a way that promotes some form of positive interest. All of the comments so far focus on different ways of creating that interest.
But… what if the “be interesting” approach to networking is backwards? Not wrong, but out of sequence.
My suggestion: Be interested rather than interesting.
Here is a sentence I created that displays sincere interest and will help you put the sequence in the proper order.
“I made a promise to myself not to tell you anything about me until I’ve learned everything about you.”
You’ll know the right moment to use the line. And of course, you should truly be interested in the information that will flow from your networking counterpart.
If they insist that you go first you better have the “right thing” to say.
As executives and professionals we want to honor the requests of others, but the desire to be listened to seems to trump the going first issue.
I invite you to try the approach and gauge the response of others.
Be truly interested and they will respond.

From      John Williams

Tom Peters suggests in his book “The Brand You 50″ that you need to do it in eight words. For example “We deliver cost effective strategic advantage to entrepreneurs.”

From  Matthew Jenkins

I am curious as why people insist on using the most complicated string of words to say such a simple sentence. Why not simply “we help businesses change” or if you want “we help businesses implement change”. The most common answer to this is - how? what more of a lead in do you need that that…

From   Ken Wallin

Interesting discussion. I think Dan’s approach is not an elevator pitch, it is way too long. The intent is more in line with what John W points to, a short but effective statement that essentially can be delivered between floors in an elevator. It is supposed to be impromptu, but that is not realistic. Getting all pitches to eight words may be not realistic, but certainly one can get in the range.
What is the objective of the pitch? To stir an interest and emotion in the target. So, the elevator pitch is intended to do that, and nothing more. If the target says anything that asks for more information — then have your detailed follow-up ready to go.
That must be more like the piece Dan has outlined. You are selling at that point — and it is all about the prospect (they just moved from target to prospect with the inquiry), never about you. I read a piece that indicated you should say I perhaps twice in the follow-up. (Wish I could remember the source, but cannot.) Once when you are saying something like, “I have a x-step process for ….” And the second time when you are referring to your results, “As a result of my approach, clients I have worked with report ….”
Then you let the prospect have the floor to speak about their business needs, and you take notes and be quiet.

From      Jessica Eballar

Your name
Product
Strongest benefit for the customer
Company name
With this order your name is first heard, the strongest benefit should stick out, and then you end on the company name for them to remember it. And I agree with everyone here: practice it, don’t rush, get feedback to fine-tune it, and want the listener to want more information.

From   Steve Yousten

Wow. Too many really great comments here to talk about them all, but I really liked Walter Wise’s observation–structure your pitch to get them talking about themselves, not you.
Before reading all the responses, I was going to say that selling is really storytelling. You need to introduce the characters, set up the conflict, provide a setback that the hero must overcome, and then a satisfying conclusion–like a well-made movie.
The problem is that a movie takes around 2 hours to get through, and you’ve got 30 seconds. So your elevator speech needs to be like the movie trailer–hit on the high parts that get people to want to buy the ticket.
That may not be actionable advice, but there’s plenty of good advice in the discussion already. Just keep this in the back of your head when you’re working on it–”Would my elevator speech want to make people ’see the movie’?”

From   Dianne Crampton

Make it about them and what would be of interest to them. Lean about others — first and then make your elevator speech relevant.

From   Brian Quinn

Opening sentence is critical and must be well thought through and strong. Identify your key strengths (no more than three) and then talk about your positions focusing on what you did to improve revenue, save money (reduce costs) or improved process efficiencies. Its important that these factors are included and that they are keyed on. Many employers are focused on the revenue improvement or cost savings and what did you do for your last company that contributed to those goals. Finally a strong closing; what you want to do and can do for the company to drive the revenue/cost savings.

From    Karl Bartel

You should:
* state you name
* few word about your background (hopefully something memorable & unique)
* companies you’ve worked for if they’re recognizable
* what you’re looking for
* how you could help also (ie, contacts to assist others to network, etc)
* remind person - restate your name

From   Cathy Bridges

The objective is to make a good first impression. You want give them a reason to meet with you again or refer you to someone else.
* Be concise and memorable, no more that 150 words.
* Do not recite your resume. The 150 word limit forces you to figure out what you have to offer, what you want and why they should meet you again. If you don’t know, don’t expect a stranger to listen to you ramble and expect them to figure it out for you in 30 seconds or less.
* Have a 15-second version and a 30-second version. Speaking faster does not count.
* Practice saying it out loud. What looks good on paper can sound artificial when spoken.
* Treat it as a conversation, not a speech. Throw out the thesaurus. If you are using words that you would not normally use in conversation or jamming it with statistics, you will sound fake and the listener will stop listening.
* Have your personal business card handy. If they show any interest in what you have said, offer them your card. It makes it possible for them to reach you  later.  If they can’t find you, you have wasted the value gained in making a good first impression. Also, if they accept your business card, it’s a perfect opportunity to ask for their card too.

So there you have the input from a few dozen professionals on LinkedIn.  Thanks to all who took the time to provide their input.  Here is to a great elevator speech.

Hang in there, this is going to be a journey.

M.J.

Tags: audience, communication, Elevator Speech, Presentation Preparation, presentations, presenting, public speaking, story telling