Developing Your Elevator Pitch
Host Sheila Boysen-Rotelli discusses how to effectively explain who you are as a professional. If you’ve ever heard the phrase, ”it’s not about what you know; it’s about who you know,” then you can understand that making connections is vitally important to success in your career and life. Learn how to make the best first impression that you can!
Episode Highlights:
Most people don’t know how to pitch themselves as a professional to someone that has an opportunistic vibe around them
Making a great first impression is the only way to find out how your lives can weave together
Your elevator pitch is an informative and compelling tale of who you are as a professional
How much should you be saying?
Where do you even start?
If you miss the opportunity to make that strong connection, it’s likely that they won’t remember you
You’ll be able to casually make the most of the opportunities to meet people
Use your pitch to force the other person to think about you when that need arises in their life
People make the mistake of not reflecting on where they want to go
The pitch allows you to see how others respond to your goals and where you are headed
Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there by sharing your future aspirations
A solid, lasting connection made with the right person can bring great success in your career
What makes a great elevator pitch?
Define where you’ve been, where you’re at, and where you’re going in the future in 15-20 seconds
Think of your elevator pitch as an informative version of a business card
Do not think of this as a sales pitch, more of an impressionable introduction of who you are that creates a lasting connection
Help this person realize how you both relate to one another
Get to know each other while trying to find an opportunity to help them in some manner
Make yourself more memorable by becoming more relatable
Imagine you are an IT professional or manufacturing manager for these great examples
Unless you are currently in school or just recently graduated, do not mention education for risk of sounding inexperienced
There is no perfect pitch; stay confident, relatable, interesting, and brief
Follow that incredible elevator pitch with a question about the other person
People love to talk about themselves more than they enjoy listening about someone else
You will learn more about what their life is like
Try your best to avoid asking for anything before building a rapport
3 Key Points:
Be ready to make an effective elevator pitch at all times because you never know what opportunities a new connection is going to bring.
Learn to make an effective first impression on those that you meet to make sure that they think of you when the need for your skillset arises in their lives.
Show this person how you and your skillset can add value to their life without going too deep into salesmode
Tweetable Quote
“Until you effectively connect with this new person, you don’t know the many ways that your personal or professional lives may weave together.” - Sheila Boysen-Rotelli
“You can learn how to casually let other people know who you are and how to contact you.” - Sheila Boysen-Rotelli
“In many ways, success really is about who you know as much as it’s about what you know.” - Sheila Boysen-Rotelli
“You’re just planting the seed but you have no idea when the seed’s actually going to sprout or when it’s going to grow.” - Sheila Boysen-Rotelli
Resources Mentioned:
Claim your free six-step job search success workbook here
Contact Sheila at sheila@professionalsuccesscoaching.com