Effective Networking Elevator Pitch

Has anyone ever asked you what you actually do for a living?

Of course they have. Maybe it was family at a recent gathering, or an old friend you happened to run into. And in those instances you have a little more freedom to be creative and spontaneous in your answer.

But what about other settings? At an event or conference, perhaps. Or at a local networking event. Or even on social media!

In those instances, you have a very brief amount of time to succinctly answer the question, and it’s important to do so in a way that empowers the person you’re talking to.

What do I mean by that?

Any time you’re talking to someone about your work – the business you own, the role you have – you want to make sure they come away from that conversation with a clear understanding of three things:

1. What you do
2. Who you help
3. How they can help you

What you do has to be in clear language that someone not in your industry will understand.

Who you help should be a concise and accurate reflection of your target ICP. And often, you can answer this question first.

For instance, I might respond to that question by saying, “I help small to medium business owners who are in a growth mode, but lack a cohesive marketing strategy, by stepping in and providing fractional CMO leadership.”

Finally, it’s a good idea to add very specific direction to the person you’re talking to about how they might potentially help you. Whether that’s to suggest they might refer someone to you that fits that description, or something else.

This statement is often referred to as an “Elevator Pitch” because you want to be able to say it in the time it might take to ride an elevator with someone else. That’s really just 30-60 seconds – no more than two to three sentences.

Not only does that ensure you’re brief, it also ensures you can be memorable even if you really are limited in the amount of time you have.

Write this statement out for yourself and practice it regularly until you can repeat it easily. Then, keep practicing and considering alternative scenarios until you feel comfortable sharing and improvising as needed.

I hope you got something from today’s Marketing Minutes with Mike. But whether you did or didn’t, leave a comment and let me know. Just please be nice, my mom reads these too. Cheers!