Your Elevator Pitch.
How do you add value to the person you’re speaking to?
watch a summary
What’s an elevator pitch?
An elevator pitch is a short way of describing what you do. It can be as short as one sentence or as descriptive as a paragraph.
What’s the benefit of having your own pitch?
When you have an elevator pitch that accurately describes what you do and that other people understand, they know how to place you.
It also helps people know what opportunities match your expertise.
If you want to be seen differently at work, or be considered for new opportunities, a succinct pitch is a way to influence that.
Creating your elevator pitch.
Here’s the format we teach in our Communicating with Influence workshops.
One word to succinctly what you do e.g. teacher, CEO, project manager.
One sentence that a 12 year old could understand e.g. I teach people to communicate better.
Your audience e.g. who is impacted by your work.
Your expertise e.g. what lived experience means you know what you know?
Your personality e.g what it's like to work with you.
Open a document or get out a notepad to start this exercise.
Step 1: One word.
Write down 1-2 words to describe what you do.
Examples:
Analyst
Financial Controller
CEO
You don’t need to dress it up or make it sound fancy. This is an exercise in keeping it simple to get something written down.
Step 2: One sentence.
Write down, in one sentence, how you’d describe what you do to a 12 year old.
Why? The average comprehension age is much lower than you think. People also pay more attention to things they already know a little bit about.
Examples:
I help people communicate better with their team.
I link data from databases into medical records.
I help my team sell products to customers.
If this feels too simplistic, ideas to consider.
Making something simple speeds up understanding. The simpler your pitch, the more likely someone can immediately understand it.
You’re not ‘dumbing down’ your expertise. You’re widening the range of people who can understand what you do.
Just because you know alot about your industry or expertise, it doesn’t mean others will. The pitch’s ‘job’ is to get someone's attention. To start a conversation. You can share more detail when you’re in conversation with someone who asks for more info.
Having emotional intelligence means it’s easy to understand you. Even if you work with pros, there’s no benefit in making something unnecessarily complex, as it means people have to spend more time to process what you’re saying, even if they are at your level of expertise.
When people know a little bit about what you’re talking about they‘re more likely to listen. This is called the mere exposure effect. The idea is, we feel smarter when we know a little about something, meaning we pay more attention to things we know a little about.
Looking at the pitch this way, is it more achievable in your mind to create a succinct sentence even a 12 year old could understand?
Step 3: Describe your audience.
Write down every group of people who benefit from your work. E.g. audience, customers, users or a group that is impacted by your work.
Examples:
My work helps workplaces, leaders and employees communicate better.
The work we do helps Australians vote with confidence.
My work helps Australians make better decisions about superannuation.
If the person you’re talking to knows a member of the group you help, immediately, they’ll be more likely to pay attention.
Step 4: Quantify your qualifiers.
Research has discovered, whenever you talk to someone, they’re thinking about your intent and credibility. What helps them trust that you know what you’re talking about is understanding ‘how’ you know what you know.
Write down everything you have experienced that means you know what you know.
Examples:
Lived experience.
Formal qualification.
Informal qualification.
Mentorship.
A job that taught you X.
An experience that taught you Y.
Examples:
I worked for a construction company for 20 years. I know how to run a P&L in a multimillion company because I’ve been doing it for years.
I did my Masters in Education in Secondary Schools, focussing on new teachers' support networks.
I ran a project that taught me how to apply my PRINCE2 certification during change.
My first job was in hospitality when I was 14. I learnt how to manage customers.
We call these sentences ‘qualifiers’. Qualifiers are experiences that show how you know what you’re talking about.
Out of all the elements of our workshops, this section gives people the most confidence as it makes their experience ‘tangible’.
Step 5: Personality.
Describe how you approach work in three words.
Examples:
I’m introverted. I do my best when I have uninterrupted time.
I’m creative and extroverted. I get lots of energy from being in the office with others.
I’m a sceptic. I love finding errors in work. It means I’m a good fit for governance roles; those kinds of errors can cost businesses millions of dollars.
You don’t have to include this in your final draft. But getting clarity on how you work is a great way to give people a heads up of what it might be like to work with you.
Bringing it all together.
In our workshops, we provide a template (below). We ask people to fill it in, then circle the sentences that work best for their context.
The template is:
I am a …. [one word]
The types of people I work with are … [audience]
My background is in …[qualifier here]
My approach to work is … [personality]
The experiences I’ve had include … [story here]
If people are looking for new opportunities, they also fill in:
Highlights of my career include …
The favourite part of my job is ….
I’d love to do more of …
Fill in the blanks. Which sentences suit your needs most?
Draft it. Then, say it out loud.
Most people upgrade accomplishments in writing and downplay them in person.
When you’ve done your pitch, say it out loud. Preferably in front of someone else. What do you notice?
If it’s not right or too formal, tinker with it until you can say it out loud without cringing. As long as it’s truthful, authentic, and you can remember it, it’s legit.
You’re not dumbing down your expertise by distilling it.
You’re simplifying it so more people can understand.
When people feel smart talking to you, they gravitate towards you more because you feel good to be around. One way you can influence that is always linking what you’re talking about to something they already know a little bit about.
A succinct pitch with a simple message helps you do that.
What could it do for your team's relationships at work? Their development and future opportunities? Their confidence?