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7 Rules for Elevator Speeches
Have you ever heard of an elevator speech? It’s a presentation you’d make to a stranger with whom you’re sharing an elevator to encapsulate the essence of who you are, what you want and what you bring to the table. In short, it’s your basic pitch and a key tool to market yourself.
Why You Need an Elevator Speech
Even if you’re not currently in the market for a new position, you should have an
elevator speech prepared and ready to go. According to consultant Dianna Booher, “you need an elevator speech to bring in clients, land contracts, secure promotions, gain visibility or
become known for your expertise.”
The elevator speech should be a mini-presentation of 30 to 60 second that you give on-the-fly to answer the questions people generally raise in an interview. These include the ever popular: “What do you do?,” or ‘Tell me about yourself.” While the speech should be planned and rehearsed, it should sound natural and spontaneous when you actually speak it.
7 Tips for Preparing Your Elevator Speech
Executive consultant Karen Armon has developed seven rules for making an elevator speech highly effective:
- Make it one sentence long with two parts.
- Separate each part by the word “and.”
- Part one should be your ideal role.
- Part two should be your biggest overt benefit.
- Use eighth grade language (simple words).
- Make it repeatable.
- Make it conversational.
Examples of Effective Elevator Speeches
Karen also offers these examples of elevator speeches that appeared in her ExecuNet
FastTrack webinar presentation:
- “I am a fashion industry executive and I work to take a brand from obscurity to icon status.”
- “I am a service technology executive, and I work with my company’s business teams to convert online visitors into paying customers.”
- “I am a healthcare IT executive, and I work with global healthcare leaders to convert raw data into business intelligence for our patients.”
Conclusion
Even though Karen’s points are addressed to corporate executives, they apply equally to just about all positions—including safety professionals. So take them to heart and craft yourself an elevator speech that you’ll be proud to roll out.
Wishing you career success and happy Labor Day!
Lauryn Franzoni
ExecuNet
www.execunet.com
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Interesting... but since the article was for safety pros why not include an example for safety pros?
Lauryn-- makes two assumptions that aren't necessarily true-- am a construction safety guy, so am usually far from any sort of a corporate environment-- and two-- ain't an executive, don't wanna be an executive-- like being a field safety guy that actually makes a difference vice being an empty suit who worries about "encapsulating the essence of who you are"
If asked, in an elevator- I'm the guy who is saving the project millions of dollars, and keeps my troops hale. ' Nuff said.