The tone of the elevator. You are probably familiar with the term. It is most commonly used to describe the pithy 60-second speech that business owners and executives, as well as marketers, use to describe their business, product, or service to others. More importantly, it’s a pitch delivered in a compelling way that describes what’s unique about the business (or offering), outlines the benefits to the target market, and piques the listener’s interest.
So why should you, the job seeker and career professional, care about elevator speech? If you’re familiar with the concept of personal branding and the idea of leveraging your brand to advance and promote yourself in your career, I’m sure you immediately recognized the similarities between the above description of an elevator pitch and a personal brand statement.
Personal branding allows you to make a name for yourself. It sets you apart from your peers and helps position you as a leader in your field, as a specialist and an authority who knows how to do a job and fill a particular niche in the workplace better than anyone else. A personal brand statement is a succinct statement that clarifies and communicates what makes you and your unique value proposition different and special.
Your personal brand statement will play a big part in your 60-second elevator pitch as a job seeker and career professional. Your entire elevator pitch will be a mini-presentation that you can give on the fly in response to those all-too-common “what do you do?” or “Tell me about yourself?” With precision focus, an effective elevator pitch will immediately convey to the listener who you are as a professional, and do so in a way that addresses not only your unique value proposition, but also your listener’s concerns. Just as importantly, while your speech is planned and rehearsed, when you actually say it, it should sound completely natural and spontaneous, but it should leave the listener with a lasting, positive, and memorable impression. You will use your elevator pitch frequently, in networking situations and during interviews.
But once you recognize that crafting an elevator pitch is essential, you may feel intimidated at the prospect of creating and perfecting one. This is certainly a task that your career coach or the professional you hired to create your resume can help you with. However, with a little introspection and honest self-assessment, developing your elevator pitch doesn’t have to be difficult. To get started, ask yourself these essential questions:
1. What is the focus of your search? What is your job goal?
2. Who is the person or persons most likely to make a hiring decision about you?
3. What are the problems facing your target audience?
4. What are you offering that would solve these problems?
5. What is it that sets you apart and makes you different from your peers?
6. What are the benefits of your work as experienced by your target audience?
To create your elevator pitch, you now need to put all of these elements together into a short presentation that you can deliver quickly, in the time it would take you to get from one floor to the next in an elevator.
As an example, here is my own “branded” elevator pitch that I developed to concisely describe my job as CEO of Distinctive Career Services.
“You know how some career professionals miss out on really great job opportunities, or don’t advance in their careers as fast as they’d like, or don’t get the compensation they deserve, all because they really don’t know how to differentiate themselves in their careers or market themselves effectively in the job market?
Well, I am a career coach, personal brand strategist, and career marketing professional, one of the few people in the entire world with this unique combination of experience. In my business, which is Internet-based and global, I offer a combination of innovative products, programs and services delivered to six-figure plus and aspiring six-figure professionals, managers and executives. All of my offerings are specifically designed to empower my clients to market and market themselves effectively, opening doors and enabling the potential to achieve their highest career ambitions and goals.
The benefits are that my clients dramatically reduce the time and money they spend looking for work, advance rapidly in their careers, increase their income, enjoy greater professional recognition, and generally establish themselves in careers that are more professionally, financially, and personally rewarding.”
Once you have the answers to the six questions above, you’ll have everything you need to create a similar elevator pitch for yourself. See how I’ve taken my own answers to the questions and interspersed them throughout my presentation? I have clearly communicated who my target market is, identified the issues and challenges they face, conveyed how my offer is not only unique but solves those problems, and outlined the key benefits my offers produce.
You can use this same model to develop your own elevator pitch. But remember; don’t go into too much detail. Your goal is simply to spark interest and make yourself memorable. Don’t spend too much time on the details of your qualifications. Just quickly highlight them and link to how they benefit your target audience (current or future employer).
Once you’ve perfected your pitch, practice it, practice it, and practice it some more. Your goal is for it to sound completely natural. Practice in front of a mirror and be aware of your body language and eye contact, as these aspects of communication often speak louder than words. Now test your pitch a few times and watch the listener’s response. Be open to adapting and modifying as necessary to get the response you want to generate. And of course, be flexible. If your listener interrupts with a question, be prepared to pause and answer it.
Creating your elevator pitch may take some time and thought, but it’s a wise professional who invests in it! You will hear the “what are you doing?” or “Tell me about yourself?” questions over and over again, both during your job search and throughout his career. Do not ruin it! Preparation is the key to confidence and the key to making a lasting, positive and memorable first impression. The benefits to your career will be phenomenal. It’s worth it!