Perfecting Your Elevator Speech 5 Essential Tips

Perfecting Your Elevator Speech 5 Essential Tips Perfecting Your Elevator Speech 5 Essential Tips Elevator Speech- Unique Value Proposition- Personal Branding Statement: Does it really matter what you call it? In a word: No. Almost as soon as the concept of an elevator speech made it to our vocabulary, you had people poo-pooing it in lieu of one of the other terms. That happens in our culture for various reasons on a whole array of things. It can leave you in a state of confusion about all of them and certainly shaking your confidence on what direction to follow. I’d like to simplify things by not only pointing out what all three are trying to accomplish and leave you tips on how to construct a powerful ______________ (fill in the blank on your favorite term). What is your objective with any of these? You are doing a self-introduction. We all have to introduce ourselves in both social and professional situations and you want to be fluid and confident. You want to be memorable. People remember other people from “markers” or information that will stick in their memory.  You want to be remembered and to be remembered in a way that serves you. You want to reinforce your personal brand. Since your personal brand is in your control, you want to be deliberate in quickly getting across to others at least one key aspect of your personal brand. You want to appeal to WIIFM (What’s In It For Me). All of your objectives will be met if what you do in your Elevator Speech is help someone else figure out how YOU will be of value to THEM. To meet these objectives in your elevator speech, keep these tips in mind: 1. Keep it short and sweet. Seriously, one sentence is enough. More that one sentence and you will be prone to making you and others uncomfortable. 2. Don’t use “I am. Unfortunately, most people role model the worst possible way to begin an elevator speech. Don’t say, “I’m an accountant”. Although it will satisfy one of your objectives, it will miss the rest of the list in a big way. 3. Do use a powerful verb. If you are unclear about a good verb to use, Google a list of powerful verbs that reflect some of the actions of your work. Things like: “I teach, I help, I perform, I coordinate” instantly set up your Elevator Speech to be interesting, memorable and appeal to WIIFM. 4. Deliberately develop your elevator speech. In order to hit your goals and to avoid a cringe worthy self-introduction, sit down and write out a variety of sentences you can use. Practice them out loud so you can hear them for flow and to help you remember them for use. 5. Have different things to say for different people. Consider a wardrobe of elevator speeches that you can use in different settings and with different types of people. This is not a one-size-fits-all thing to do. You might look back at the various settings where you could have used a powerful way to introduce yourself for ideas on what you would prefer to say in the future. An Elevator Speech is such an easy, controllable thing to do, there’s no reason not to master them. They are a handy career management tool to help you reinforce who you are to everyone you encounter from now on. Try your elevator speech! Use our list of the 100 top companies with remote jobs in 2015 to find a company to pitch to today! Readers, do you have a go-to elevator speech? Share your pitch with us below! Brought to you by Dorothy Tannahill-Moranâ€"dedicated to unleash your professional potential. Find me at www.introvertwhisperer.com. Personal Branding starts with how well you speak about YOU.  I want to help you accelerate your career by connecting you with your Free Instant Access to my eBookâ€"The Definitive Guide to Creating and Using an Elevator Speech.  In this guide, I give you simple to follow instructions for creating a “wardrobe” of ways to talk about you â€" to leave a lasting impression.