Elevator Pitch Whats Wrong With It How to Make Yours Work

Elevator Pitch What’s Wrong With It How to Make Yours Work How many times have you heard this fantasy elevator pitch scenario?You enter an elevator, press your button and, OH MY GOD!, you realize youre riding with Elon Musk, Susan Wojcicki, or Larry Page. Or all three of them. Plus Steve Jobs hologram.One of them looks at you and asks:SoWhat do you do?Youve got thirty seconds to deliver your fast-and-furious speech so that, by the end of the ride, they like you enough to hire you or give you money.Go!Because of stories like this, the mythical elevator pitch has been ridiculed by many a career expert.When presented this way, the concept is laughable.And thats not the whole problem.It gets worse:1The traditional elevator pitch is a lost causeThats a research-proven fact.A group of Stanford University researchers have investigated whether sales/elevator pitches (or even business plans) can actually influence decisions of potential stakeholders.The result?Theres no correlation between the presence of an elevator pitch and the final desired outco me.Another study published by the MIT Press focused on elevator pitches used by tech innovators to sell their ideas to potential VC investors.They suffer a failure rate of 96%.Does that mean you should ditch the idea of an elevator pitch altogether?Far from it. Lets do something else instead...2Lets redefine the elevator pitch once and for allHeres a quick story for you.When faced with the cornerstone of smalltalk, the What do you do? question, Tim David, an author and a contributor for the Harvard Business Review, beginshis pitch with:You mean, in addition to being an international bodybuilding champion?(Hes five feet ten and a buck thirty five. When I step on ants, they live, he says.)Upon hearing this line, whoever David talks to usually laughs. He laughs too. Then he starts chatting with them.But is that even an elevator pitch to begin with?What is an elevator pitch?The common elevator pitch definition is:A short (20 to 30 seconds), verbal description of an idea, product, or one self, that gets attention of the person youre talking to and helps you get you want. Be that selling your products, getting funds, or landing a job.NowWhy is attention in bold?Because without it, you might as well talk to the hand. And yet, almost everyone seems to ignore this. Most elevator pitches sound canned and gimmicky, like ad slogans.Tims self-depreciating bodybuilding one-liner is a head-turner. Once he drops this joke, he gets attention. He makes them eager to hear out his actual elevator pitch.3Jab, Jab, Jab, Right HookLets be honestto get someones attention only by pitching them is little short of impossible.Thats what Rob Biesenbach, a keynote speaker and communications consultant points out to:The problem with the elevator pitch is right there in the title: nobody likes to be pitched and few people are comfortable pitching themselves, Biesenbach says.The purpose of an introduction speech is to communicate something to your audience. Good communication is a two-way proc ess.Soto make your elevator or sales pitch work, you need to reinterpret it.No more droning on about being a professional X with Y years of experience in Z.Treat the elevator pitch as an invitation to a conversation. Its way easier and less awkward than to deliver a pitch prepared in advance.Get it right, and you wont have to limit yourself to 30 seconds. Youll get the person youre speaking with to actually listen to what you have to say.Start your elevator pitch with something surprising, like the bodybuilding joke I mentioned. David calls it an elevator pitch for your elevator pitch.And thats something you have to come up with yourself. Theres no secret recipe. It has to sound 100% you.Id write this for you if I could, but I cant. Nobody can, says David.Alright. But once youve got your conversation-starter, what about the actual conversation?Lets break it down.4The only formula for an effective elevator pitchYou got your audiences attention. Halfway there. Whats next?Get your audi ence nodding.Identify a problem related to your profession that your audience will be familiar with. Make them go Yeah, thats right, it is a problem.Then, spark curiosity. Tell them that you fix this problem. And let them ask you how you do it.Finally, deliver your actual pitch. Summarize what you do in an engaging yet concise way and be ready for more questions.Remember: you need to keep the conversation alive. The moment you start feeling that your pitch is turning into a robotic commercial, slow down. Maybe ask a question or two. No one wants to feel like theyre being pitched.To show you an example of what I mean, I reached out to Pete Sosnowski, our co-founder and VP.Hey Pete, for a moment, lets pretend we dont know each other. Ive got a question for you. Tell me What do you do?His response?You know this feeling when you send out 100 resumes and get no call back? (Identifying the problem.)Yeah, who doesnt?Thats not your fault. Thats because the hiring industry is defective and n eeds a revolution. So I want to spark this revolution and fix HR. (Sparking curiosity.)Wow, that sounds amazing. How do you want to do it?And now its the time for Pete to launch the rest of his pitch. Im ready for it. Im dying to find out more.See what I mean?Pete made it irresistible for me to ask for more information. The technique he used turned me from casual into an engaged listener.And what if you cant do it? What if you identify a problem, say that you solve it, and still, your listener isnt interested?Then just dont bother.If the person youre talking to isnt willing to learn more about you at this point, theyre just not your right audience. Even if you started with your proper pitch right off, youd just waste your time (while being salesy and awkward). They wouldnt pay attention anyways.I know what youre thinking5But what about that proper elevator pitch?Guess what?Thats the easy part.When someone asks you What do you do? theyre just being polite. They dont care.But if you f ollow the two crucial elevator pitch stepsidentify a relatable problem and spark curiositythe same person who was merely being polite, now really wants to know what you do.Tell them. You no longer have to worry about cramming your career into a 30-second pitch.And, tell us!What do you do? Try to answer this question in the comments, using the technique I discussed. I cant wait to hear your pitch!Have additional questions about your elevator pitch? Feel like you could use some help crafting one? Drop me a line in the comments. Lets chat.