From all the responses I have received on what are the ingredients to a great elevator speech, I will conclude this series by highlighting two resources that in my opinion is worth looking into.
The first is from Ronald Rothman
who suggested visiting Havard Business School’s site on how to build an elevator speech. It takes you step by step through the who, what why and goal aspects of an effective elevator speech with tips along the way. Once you have completed the five steps, you can e-mail yourself the final product and work with that. Very straight forward, simple and requires minimum time.
Overall, there was general agreement on what content should be included in the elevator speech. However the sequence of how the information is delivered was split into two main camps. There were those who preferred to have information about them coming first with the final bit explaining how they could help. Then there were those who believed that the elevator speech should first focus on the person you are speaking with first before you talk about yourself.
I personally prefer the second option. In my opinion, nobody cares about you, your company, product or service until you demonstrate to them that you genuinely care about them and their issues.
Ike Krieger has produced a short 5 minute video that outlines an easy and effective way to devleop your elevator speeches. What I like about Ike’s approach is that he asks you to take your benefits and convert them into a problem statements that may trigger an emotional response from the other person.
This method forces you to list all of the benefits of you, your company, your products and services. From that list, convert the benefit into a problem statement and use that as the basis for your elevator speech. You may have several products or services each with several possible benefits.
Ike’s method provides you with a rolodex of elevator speeches. The trick is to get the other person speaking first. Learn about them, what they do and what are their challenges. Then when it is your turn to speak, you can choose the elevator speech (problem statement) that will best resonate with them. Check out the video. Well worth it.
Next I will blog about Act 2 which is the main body of your presentation.
Hang in there, this is going to be a journey.
Tags: audience, Elevator Speech, Fear of Public Speaking, Presentation Preparation
Tags: audience, Elevator Speech, Fear of Public Speaking, Presentation Preparation
