Strategy for Elevator Pitches: Two Key Questions

00:01 So I want you to keep refining your elevator pitch.

00:04 It's okay to write it down, but it's not because I want you to memorize it.

00:07 Memorizing things is difficult, number one.

00:09 Number two, it can make you sound artificial and contrived.

00:13 If you are trying to say something word for word and get it just right.

00:16 So. Okay.

00:18 To write it down. But again, the goal is not memorization.

00:22 So I have two more tests for your elevator pitch that I want you to administer.

00:28 I want you to ask yourself from the standpoint of the person you're pitching, what's in it for me? How is this really going to benefit me? Because the person you're pitching already knows the downside.

00:43 The downside is if they act interested in what you're saying or they say, yes, you could come in and waste an hour of their life that they might not ever get back.

00:52 You could be hounding them and emailing them and calling them, asking them for money and follow up meetings for the next six months.

01:00 So anyone you're pitching has a very clear idea of the downside for even acting like they're interested in you.

01:10 If they own a large company and you know that they hire a lot of people and it's well known they're constantly being hit on for Give my son this job, give my nephew, give my niece this job.

01:23 How about an internship? Please hire this person.

01:26 They're constantly being badgered by people.

01:29 They're getting hit up by other elevator pitches all the time.

01:32 So they know the downside of acting.

01:36 Interested in what you're saying? And in giving you more time or saying yes to a meeting, they don't yet know what the upside is.

01:46 I need to very quickly, like in the first 15 seconds.

01:51 Address some benefit for them.

01:55 And I also need you to somehow convey what's different.

02:00 What's interesting about this, I mean, if you're a venture capitalist, you can just open up your email every day.

02:08 And there are hundreds of people pitching you business plans and sending you email request.

02:15 If you own your own company and it's a sizable company, you're going to have people sending you resumes every single day.

02:23 So the fact that you want a job or that you want money is an interesting because people who are receiving elevator pitches hear that all day long, every day. So I need you to give some real thought to what is it you have to say that's interesting.

02:42 A little different. Doesn't have to be wildly funny.

02:46 You don't have to have some app that's going to create world peace and solve the energy crisis.

02:53 But you could have something interesting.

02:55 This person who doesn't know you is not obligated to give you their time, to give you their attention, to give you their eyeballs, to give you anything they're not obligated to, that they could, in fact, just walk by.

03:13 So I need you to really give some serious thought.

03:17 What's in it for them? How have you positioned something you're saying that they will perceive as a benefit to them? And what do you have to say that's interesting and that seems credible.

03:29 So really think about those two questions and and rework your elevator pitch because we are going to be practicing very soon.