An elevator speech is defined as: the phrasings that you use in a social situation to introduce yourself to a group of people that want to get to know you and use your services. Sure you know who you are and what you do, but how good are you are telling others? Introducing yourself to a new group of people can be challenging if you do not have the confidence or know how to do so. A perfected elevator speech will boost your confidence and triple your customer follow up!
Depending on the social environment you may be given anywhere from 30 seconds to 2 minutes to make your introduction. What you say tells your audience not only who you are and what you do, but it says how confident you are with yourself and interacting with others.
You can perfect your speech by using these 5 guidelines:
Put it on paper. Writing your elevator speech and rehearsing it truly helps you define the most important elements. Depending on the situation, you may need to lengthen or shorten it, be prepared to do so. And always be sure to state your name – It is important that people know who you are; often that crucial piece is forgotten.
Test it on your friends or relatives. This is crucial because any time a person hears your elevator speech for the first time they can quickly detect how effective it sounds. You are then in a great position to ask questions as to where the weaknesses and strengths occur.
Third, take the time to make adjustments based on the positive criticism you received. Try not to feel offended with critics. It really is the only way to know for sure how your elevator speech is coming off to the listeners. Listen very carefully to what others say about your elevator speech. It could make or break the follow up you receive
Grab the listeners’ attention by being extremely specific when using your elevator speech. Say what you do in simple but precise terms; you do not want to confuse or bore the listener. A good line might be, “I double people’s income using expert Internet marketing strategies”. Notice that this statement includes the results of your services rather than just stating the services. People love confidence. If you insert a really attention-grabbing result of your services, the listeners will focus much more intently.
Lastly, differentiating what makes you different from the hundreds of people who are in the same profession can mean the difference between a mediocre elevator speech and an outstanding one. So be honest: Ask yourself what makes your business different. It could be as simple as a guarantee. A guarantee can sound something like this, “I can double your income in one year or you get a full refund.”
A great elevator speech will help you to introduce yourself and quickly spark some serious interest in your business. Just remember to follow-up with a phone call or an email to take the connection to a higher more personal level.