Transcripts
1. Elevator Pitch - Introduction: Let me ask you a question in
just a few short seconds. Do you really know
how to effectively explain who you are
as a professional? Imagine you are at the
airport waiting for a flight. You end up chatting with the
woman sitting next to you. A person you find interesting. A person you know, could be a very valuable
addition to your network. You'll quickly learn that
she is an executive. You don't yet know. You could be a client
connection that leads to a client or future
employer or even a friend. But you do know that you sense a positive professional
connection and you see possibilities. By the time we recognize this, she asks you, what is it
that you do for a living? You are now faced with a
really important moment until you effectively connect
with this new person. You don't know how many ways your personal and professional
lives may weave together. However, the potential
benefits can be realized if you don't make
a good first impression. And a lot of that is about
your personal elevator pitch. That's your very
brief, informative, somewhat compelling story of who you are as a professional. Unfortunately, since you
are yet to see this, let's think about this issue. When you open your
mouth to respond, not much comes out. You pause a bit
because you are not sure where to start
and how much to say. Then while you're stumbling
to organize your thoughts, her flight is called,
entity is gone. You didn't really make
a strong connection. She's not likely
to remember you, but it doesn't have
to be that way. The next time this happens, I want you to be ready to expertly deliver your
personal elevator pitch. In this course, I want
to teach you how to maximize your connection in
a minimal amount of time.
2. Benefits of an Elevator Speech: We often find
ourselves engaged in many small, unplanned
encounters. If you find yourself with someone for a short
period of time, just like sharing an elevator, How would you connect with them? The more you become comfortable
with your elevator pitch, the more you will realize
the several benefits. First and foremost,
you will capitalize on the various opportunities you will have to meet new people. Never again will you
have to say to yourself, Hey, I wonder how to
connect to that person? Or did I even remember to
tell them about where I work? Or did I just mentioned
the industry. You can learn how to
casually let them know who you are and how to
connect with you. Next. Periodically working
on your pitch forces you to think about your
professional identity, who you are, and
where are you going. It's often the case
that we get so busy satisfying the
short-term demands of our lives that we
fail to stop and meaningfully reflect
about where we're going. Your elevator pitch
is one simple device that helps you to think
about your long-term goals. Your pitch also represents an interesting
opportunity to see how others respond
to your goals. When part of the pitch, which we will
discuss in a moment, is a short statement
about where you might be headed when you are shedding
some type of future goal, you are putting
yourself out there. You're opening up
the current tree positive article about how
others view your expectations. That's a very useful
information as you continue to
evaluate your career. Finally, being effective
with your elevator pitch inevitably results in a more professional
opportunity and growth. Simply stated, the more you make a solid lasting
connection with someone, the more they're going to
think of you when they need someone with your
skills and expertise. Success in your
career has a lot to do with your intelligence
and your work ethics. But never underestimate
the power of networking. In many ways, success
really is about who you know as much
as what you know. That's why starting right now, you are going to perfect your elevator pitch and start making more
productive connections. So let's get started.
3. Making an Initial Connection: Making an initial connection. There are several different
views out there about what constitutes a good
personal elevator pitch. However, most agree that the
basic structure is simple. You will create a summary label. Define where you have
been professionally, where you are currently, and a little about
where you are going. You will do all of this in 15 to 20 seconds at
max thirty-seconds. Think of this as a
quality verbal extension of your business card. It provides much more
information that a business card much less information
than your resume. But to be honest with you, it's much more important
than your resume. Your elevator pitch is a form of interpersonal communication
that when done correctly, acts like a catalyst that makes others want to
know more about you. Only then do they care
about your resume, your website, your blog, or your LinkedIn
page, and so on. Now, I don't want you to think
of this as a sales pitch. Think of it as a
quality interaction. Now, sure, we're always
selling a little bit, but the goal with the pitch
isn't simply selling. The goal is lasting connection. And by connection, I really
mean these three things. You want to inform them, possibly help them, and find
a way to relate to them. You see the pitch
is a great tool, but it needs to be viewed in
a slightly larger context. The context of meeting someone and trying to make
a productive impression. Of course, the first
goal of a pitch is to inform them
about who you are as a professional and a
little bit about where you have been and
where you're going next. Next, I want you to seek to help the person as you bought shares, some sort of elevator pitch
and get to know each other. Look for opportunities
to help them. Based on your conversation. You might think of a book, a blog, or website that
could be of use to them. Maybe one of the comments
makes you think of a person or a professional
organization that might be helpful beyond informing
them about who you are. You're also trying to add value when attempting to
connect with someone. Finally, when making
an initial connection, look for opportunities to
relate to that person. Maybe you bought, loved the same football team
or enjoy playing golf. Maybe you bought have
teenage children and can relate to the
challenges that presents. Or maybe you bought
simply worked for the same company at
some point in the past, finding one or two
things that you bought share makes you more
relatable and memorable. Let me summarize the
goal of using the pitch. Trying to make
connection with someone. It's not about you trying
to gain some benefit. Now, when you make a connection, you never know exactly
when they will be able to help you or you
will be able to help them. I like to think about
it as planting seeds, but not knowing when the
seeds will sprout and grow. This effort isn't so much
about any one particular seed. It's about planting as
many seats as possible.
4. Structuring your Pitch: All right. We have talked about what a
personal elevator pitch is, why it's so important, and a little about the context within which you
should use a *****. Now let's consider a
couple of examples. Imagine I'm an IT professional and I'm sitting down to
lunch with a friend, I realize that he's bought
another friend, a person. I don't know. After the initial greetings, the new person looks
at me and says, So Andrew and attend, you are in IT. Is that right? Now? I might say. That's
right. I'm a developer. I write a lot of code. I started with Ernst and
Young for a few years, but then I jumped to one of my clients,
Proctor and Gamble. I've been working with
them mostly in support of the brand development team for one of their packaged
goods division. I loved the book, but I've begun to think about the
bigger picture as well. I'm looking for opportunities to move into management roles. You will notice I
used a summary label and then a few short words
to state my vocation. The industry, I was
in, the industry, I'm currently in the
functional area as support. And my comment about my future expeditions all
in about 15 to 20 seconds. Let's consider another example. Say I spent several years
working in supervisory roles in manufacturing
companies than I took a break to go and
do a full-time MBA. And now I'm working
as a manager over a manufacturing facility for the electronic
components company. A friend invites me
to a social event and at some point of
time spots her boss. She introduces us. The boss says, Good
to meet you, Andrew. What is it you do when
good response could be? My background is manufacturing mostly high-tech and write down, I'm the general manager of a
large facility for agentic. We add an electronic
components company headquartered in Hong Kong. I loved being in the
shop environment, seeing things being created, but eventually, I hope to
move into executive roles. Again, you will notice a
summary labeled to start, followed by information about
the actual work experience, including the current employer. And roll again with a small
comment about your future, all in about 15 to 20 seconds. By the way, in this example, you will notice I didn't
mention my MBA degree. Generally speaking, you
don't include education unless you are currently
in graduate school. Unless you are in
the first year of professional work
after your undergrads. Believe it or not, you
risk sounding young and inexperienced if your page is good and then the
conversation develops. That's when other details might suggest education
might come into play. Let's be clear. There is no perfect pitch. Having said that, a grid page will have certain qualities, make sure yours fits
this description. First, it should be
confident but not arrogant. You are trying to comfortably
connect with someone. But it's about being a little relatable or maybe
even interesting, but it's not about bragging. Next, it absolutely
positively must be shot. I've given you the goal of 15
to 20 seconds for a reason. When you meet someone
for the first time, you will lose them
quickly if you start talking and let it
go on and on and on. After about 15 or 20 seconds, most of the people start to tune out while thinking
to themselves, Wow, that person
likes to talk a lot. Also, grid pitch tends to be
more generic than specific. Now normally, when I talk
about effective communication, I tell people to
be very specific. But with a *****, think about the context. You have just met this person. So you begin connecting with a useful general
description of who you are. If you jump right
in and mentioned specific technical lingo or other things that the other
person not likely to know, you will lose them immediately. Lastly, strive to make your pitch distinctive
and not generic. Nobody distinctive, I
don't mean R or off-color. What I mean is tried to
offer them a combination of fact that not many people
would be able to offer. When you mentioned your
past work and industry or to your title and something
about your future. Try to ensure that this group
of facts is unique to you. The more distinct
your description, the more memorable you
will be if you follow the structure and characteristics
we have just discussed. Your page is going to be the beginning of a
great conversation.
5. Making Your Pitch Stick (Lasting Connection): Let's return for just a
moment to the fact that the pitch is just a tool
and we have to see it in the context of an
initial meeting and an attempt to connect
with the other person. We have already spoken about
the need to try and to be genuinely helpful and not
just make a sales pitch. When I think about
first meeting someone, a few additional things
pop into my mind that will definitely help you make
a solid first connection. The first is to always follow your page with a question
about their work. For better or worse, people
typically enjoy talking about themselves more than listening
to you about yourself. So give them that chance. In addition, the more they
share about what they do, the more you will
learn about things you might be able to relate to. Again, providing you more of an opportunity to
connect with them. Next. Never asked for some fever or anything when you're meeting
somebody for the first time. There might be exceptions, but generally you
don't want to ask a stranger for something
we have not earned. Don't ask if they
can connect you with someone or don't ask
if they're hiring. Most professionals will
be immediately put off. By having a stranger immediately
asked for something. The goal is to connect
invalid, happily, unaware of exactly how you might benefit one
another in the future. Also, don't forget this classic. Know your audience. I've given you a good first pass at creating a personal
elevator pitch, but there are variations
worth considering. For example, is that
person in your industry or do they share the same vocation
like you think about it. If an engineer, an accountant, and an IT professional all meet for the first time
at a social event. None of them should be using specific jargons that
others wouldn't understand. Similarly, if you're
communicating with an executive, you would want to be particularly
concise and succinct. Maybe only a 10 second pitch. If you're talking
to a salesperson, consider shaping what you say
to relate to their world. Every audience is different. So Tim, just a little about
how you might speak in a way that allows them to
hear you and understand you. Finally, if the pitch and
the initial connection, if it's productive, be proactive to ensure a
lasting connection. This might be as
simple as handing them one of your business
cards and saying, It's great to meet you John. It was nice chatting with you. By the way, it's not best
to ask them for their card. If you offer yours, that's their prompt to offer
you their business card. If the introduction feels
particularly comfortable, you might go a step
further and tell them you are on LinkedIn and we'll reach out to connect online. That's about it. Now grab a trusted friend or a colleague and
practice just a little. Then revisit your pitch for a few minutes every
12 to 18 months. And then the next time you
meet someone interesting, you will not only be ready
to talk about who you are, you will also be ready to make
a strong first impression. A great connection.
Vinit Agrawal
