Crafting the Perfect Elevator Speech

An elevator speech is a clear, concise statement about you and what you do. Think of it as a “commercial” about you. It communicates who you are, what you do, or what you’re looking for, and how you can benefit a person, business, or organization.

It’s called an “elevator speech” because if you’re riding in an elevator with someone you want to meet, you have to make your pitch before the elevator reaches the first floor. This means your pitch is short: it’s about 30 seconds long, or roughly about 75 words total.

Here’s the thing about an elevator speech: you have one, whether you know it or not! When someone asks you, “what do you do?” your answer is your elevator speech! So, that means that even if you are meeting someone online or at a virtual event, having your elevator speech ready can be useful.

What’s in a good elevator speech?

A good elevator speech grabs the attention of the person you’re talking to and is memorable enough to make them want to speak with you more. You want to create an elevator speech that gets people genuinely interested in you and wanting to learn more.

Elements of a good elevator speech

An elevator speech means different things, depending on what you’re trying to accomplish. So, if you’re trying to get hired for your dream job, it might look different from if you’re looking for investors for a start-up. But the elements are basically the same.

Here are the elements of a good elevator speech:

• Captivate — Start your elevator speech with something captivating and relatable. You can use an industry fact or a common point of interest.
• Create curiosity — Tell them you’ve found a solution to that very problem.
• Clarity — Concisely and summarize what you do. Be sure to include how you do it and the benefits of what you do (or the outcome)
• Conversation — Be prepared for more questions. A good elevator pitch is an invitation to a conversation, not an ad slogan.
• Connect — Be ready to give them your information digitally, through Hio, or have a business card ready, so that you can continue the conversation later.

Creating your elevator pitch

If you need some direction for creating a compelling elevator speech together, we will give you all the steps below. Just remember that whatever the result is, it should flow naturally, and feel like it’s authentic and genuine.

Write out anything important and relevant

Start with a blank sheet of paper and write out the most critical information that you want to convey about yourself.

Ask yourself:

• What exactly do you do?
• What have you achieved?
• Who do you work?
• What are your goals?
• What are the benefits of working with you?

For now, just write whatever comes to mind as necessary. Include things that are memorable or fascinating, so that you can use that to spark curiosity.

Edit, edit, edit

Now that you have a list of things go back and edit. Get rid of anything that is industry jargon, repetitive, unclear, or unnecessary. Take this time to add in a few specifics that make your accomplishments sparkle.

For example, saying, “I’m great a sales,” is okay, but saying, “I have exceeded my sales goals and have been a top performer for the last two years”, is much more powerful.

Put it all together

Now that you have only the most important information. Get another blank sheet and write out these four lines:

• Who am I?
• What do I do?
• How do I do it?
• Who do I do it for?

Under each of these, you should be able to fill in one to two truly captivating sentences that answer the question. If you can’t, then go back and fill in the gaps as concisely as possible.

Put them in order

One of the tricky things about networking is that carrying on an uninterrupted conversation is rare. People will get pulled away, the emcee will have an announcement, or someone else will walk up and want to join in.

When that happens, you want whoever you’re talking with to hear something exciting, meaningful, or memorable about you.

As you put the things you listed above in the order of most important, don’t assume that you will always start with who you are first. Perhaps the most important thing is that you train ex-Navy SEALs on how to use horseback riding to cope with stress and PTSD, and that is what you want someone to know about you.

In that case, you would probably lead with that fact, since it alone makes you unique. Take some time to think about this. If someone only hears a few seconds of your elevator pitch, what do you want them to walk away remembering? Once you decide what that is, you can put your sentences in the right order.

Add an attention grabber

Try to add an attention grabber at the start of your speech. No need to make it complicated! You can simply google facts about your industry and use them.

For example:
“Hi, I’m Kristi, I’m a web designer. Did you know that the average person will only spend seven to nine seconds on your website to find the information that they want?”

If the person I’m speaking to has ever had the experience of attempting to build a website, he will immediately have questions about this stat.

What facts can you come up with about your industry or area of expertise that could grab someone’s attention?

Practice

Now you should have all the elements you need for the perfect elevator speech, but to deliver it flawlessly, you need to practice! The only way you will be confident in delivering your speech for the first time is with practice.

Back to you

These tips can help you put together the perfect elevator speech. Next time you’re at a networking event, meeting people online, or attending a virtual event, you can use it and see how people respond. Remember that you can keep refining it until it feels perfect to you.