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The Professional Elevator Pitch: Why You Need One

Ernie Humphrey's picture
Posted by Ernie Humphrey (Vice President), Mar 22, 2010, 05:39 AM (view user's blog)

A top notch professional elevator pitch can jump start a career

For those in transition the necessity of a top notch professional elevator pitch is self evident. A professional elevator pitch is a one minute (or less) speech that can be delivered at any time at any place to anyone-- whether it be at a networking event, lunch with friends, or in an elevator. The pitch must convey clearly and concisely what you are looking to achieve next in your career and what you are doing to make it happen. The deliveries of this pitch can open many doors. You never know who will have that right lead for you or with whom your great pitch will strike the right chord to help you land the job you really want.

 

For those not in transition, the economy over the past two and half years has taught us that everyone needs to be ready for a transition no matter how secure you see your job. Giving your elevator pitch to let others know where you want to go and how you plan to get there will allow you to plant many seeds with your professional colleagues and friends which you can germinate when the time is right.

 

Constructing and refining an elevator pitch are about as much fun as writing a resume, but the risk of not having and delivering one can keep your career on ice.

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Comments

William Donovan's picture

so right

by William Donovan (Resident Advisor) - 03/23/2010 - 12:28pm

so what does a good one look like. Can you have more than one if you are seeking more than one type of opportunity

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Ernie Humphrey's picture

The Components of the Pitch

by Ernie Humphrey (Vice President) - 03/23/2010 - 3:48pm

During my own recent transition my pitch focused on what I had been accomplishing during my transition, which was becoming well versed in social media and how it can best be leveraged by businesses and organizations. I gave a few seconds as to how I became well versed and how this would help me reach my vision which was redefining the paradigm for professional resources. This is a work in progress of mine right now.

Not in transition, I would focus on how I took (take) charge of my professional development, how I motivate my people to take charge of their own development, how I helped them reach their professional goals, and how I have been a strategic player in adding value to my employers to assist me in reaching my goal of reaching the next rung on the corporate ladder (the C-Suite).

I would appreciate additional insights here from others.

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John Gaskin's picture

Elevator Pitch

by John Gaskin (Film Production Auditor) - 03/24/2010 - 7:20am

Thank you for starting this discussion. It is really needed. Most professionals working in finace/accounting/etc seem to feel that they either are born with with "The gift of the gab". That just isn't true. I have learned, through a series of very hard knocks, that a bit of training (with lots of practice) is required to get this sort of pitch natural and TRUE. (It's gotta be true). So, well done. It will help a lot of careers.

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Don Gonzales's picture

Focus

by Don Gonzales (Contractor) - 06/01/2010 - 4:40pm

I am currently on a contract that will end in a few months so I have been thinking about this and my transition quite a bit. I have taken classes and have been to many networking meetings and the one thing I have come away with after hearing a lot of pitches is; if your pitch is too long I will check-out and if you can’t quickly articulate a LITTLE about yourself and the type of things you’re looking for, then I will never think of you again. And getting me to think of you when I hear about a “Certain type of job” is the key, people who are looking for anything won’t come to mind just as those who I checked-out on during their speech. Anyone could be a connection to an opportunity whether directly or through someone so “Keep it short and focused”.

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Cindy Kraft's picture

Elevator Speech

by Cindy Kraft (CFO Coach) - 03/24/2010 - 5:50pm

Just like a resume, an elevator pitch (which is really now a twit pitch) should sell value. It's not about you and the responsibilities you held, it's about how you can benefit a prospective company.

Three is the new 30 ... meaning, 30-second ads on TV are 3-second ads on the Internet. The 2-3 minute elevator pitch is now a twit pitch, or about 20-30 words. If you can condense your value down to a tweet, you have definitely crystallized your value.

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Fred Dempster's picture

Ele Pitch

by Fred Dempster (Principal) - 04/08/2010 - 5:33pm

Today even 30-seconds is too long - - you need a 10-second in your pocket. Remember - the ele pitch is to lead to action, dialog in this case.

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Cindy Kraft's picture

Elevator Pitch

by Cindy Kraft (CFO Coach) - 04/09/2010 - 1:46am

IMO, there are two kinds of elevator pitches. The one delivered at a networking event to a table of 8 or 10 where each person gets a few minutes to "present." That should focus on impacts / value accompanied by a clear goal. If you aren't clear about what you want, no one else is going to figure it out for you.

The second, much shorter version, is the one used when you are meeting someone for the first time. Rather than droning on for 90+ seconds about yourself and giving the other person time to think about how they are going to respond about how great they are, I like the give and take pitches. Michael Port's book "Book Yourself Solid" does a great job of explaining "who and do what" statements.

These kinds of interactions engage the other person and invite follow up questions that allow you to feed them bits of information they have requested rather than talk at them with things they may or may not care about hearing.

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