Disclosure: Some of the links included in this post are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase. Find out more.
How many times in a week are you asked what you do for work?
Having a good response that sticks with people helps us stand apart from our competition and could lead to business later on. A lot of companies spend time coming up with a written description for their companies. This is critical. But, it’s also important to be able to explain what we do in a compelling, engaging way in conversation.
It’s our core story out loud.
Whether it’s chatting with someone at a cocktail party, a conference or on an airplane, every opportunity to introduce ourselves and our work is one more potential connection to make.
For me, the classic elevator speech formula is a bit outdated. We need to punch it up a bit and make it fit with how we communicate today. We can also incorporate some techniques to make it more memorable. We want it to stick with people so that in a few months when they’re facing a challenge – or run into a friend who is facing a challenge – we pop into their minds as someone who can help.
So, here are my top tips to write a killer modern elevator speech.
Keep It Simple and Communicate Your Value
Don Miller, author of Building a Story Brand, is a brilliant storyteller who has helped thousands of businesses. He suggests a simple, three-step framework to explain what you do. First, share the problem that your customer faces. Second, explain how your service or product offers a solution. Third, give the outcome your customer receives.
Simple. Clear. To the point. It really focuses on the value to the end user.
For example, a photographer might apply it like this: I help companies who are stuck in a rut think of new ways to sell their products. I do it by photographing them in really unusual settings and at different angles, which give businesses several out-of-the-box images to catch people’s attention on their sales brochures, websites and social media. As a result, they attract more attention and generate more sales leads.
Skip the Speech and Make It a Conversation
Another approach is not to give a speech at all but to create a back and forth conversation. Cliff Suttle, author of The Anti-Elevator Speech, suggests following four steps to draw someone into a dialogue. First, hook them with a short sentence that piques their interest but doesn’t explain what you do.
Second, pause to give the person you’re talking to time to digest what you just said and ask you what you mean. Then bring them in by delivering another sentence or two that starts to explain what you do but not the whole story. This is the key to engaging someone. You then keep the conversation flowing by focusing on how you serve people.
The power here is creating a dialogue where the other person wants to know more about what it is that you do.
So, a personal trainer might use it like this: I help people make their biggest dreams come true. [Pause to let them ask what you mean.] I help people get out of their way to accomplish their health and fitness goals. [Then, as the conversation continues, he or she could talk about the different methods they use to help people realize their dreams, such as teaching them how to use nutrition to meet their goals, building a customized work out plan to keep them on track, access to text them throughout the week with questions or challenges, etc.]
Make Your Hook Personal
A great way to ensure that you stand out from your competition is to incorporate a personal hook. The more we infuse our own history and personality into our core stories, the more people can relate to us and see how our experiences shape the product or service we sell. Even if you offer something that is very similar to another company, your journey to this point is unique to you.
For example, what first sparked your interest in your field? Is your product or service a result of a challenge you overcame yourself? Do you have an unusual background that influences your perspective?
End With a Call to Action
Depending on the situation, you probably are hoping for a specific outcome when sharing your story. If you’re at a networking event, you want to make a connection. If you’re meeting with a potential customer, you want to convince them of the value you provide.
So, it makes sense to end with a call to action in your elevator speech so long as the conversation leads to it naturally. You may want to ask for their contact information to connect again in the future, or ask for an introduction to another person if it came up while you were talking. Perhaps you want to offer them a free sample or trial to get their feedback. Think about what makes sense for your business and who you’re talking with.
Put It All Together – Focus on Your Why
Simon Sinek explains in his fantastic TED Talk, How Great Leaders Inspire Action, that people want to understand why a company does business instead of hearing about the products or services that it sells. Imagine inspiring the people you speak with about your business by hooking them as to why you developed the product or do the service.
Most companies, according to Simon, focus on selling the product and miss out on this incredible opportunity.
If you haven’t already watched his TED Talk, please do. This is such a powerful way of framing our elevator speech and core story. If you can find a way to explain your “why,” then you will definitely engage your audience and make yourself memorable. It will also naturally pull together the different elements discussed here – focusing on the value you provide in a simple message, making sure it’s a two-way conversation, hooking the person with something personal and ending on a call to action.
Your “why” weaves all of these elements together into a great core story that you can tell others in any situation.
Your Turn to Take Action
Act on what you’ve read:
- Discover: If you are a new business, take some time to think through who your target customer is and the challenges you help them overcome. Watch Simon Sinek’s TED Talk above and see what it inspires for you. I also have a list of 25 questions to help you think through where you’ve come from, what sets you apart and where you want to go as a company.
- Build: Pick some or all of these approaches above and craft something that feels right for you and your business. To help you, I created a free worksheet to along with this post with blanks you can fill in. Download the PDF directly here.
- Share: This is an elevator speech so practice saying it out loud. Try it out on friends and family. Be sure to deliver it with confidence. Bonus Tip: A lot of us have the habit of inflecting up at the end of our sentences so it sounds like we’re asking questions instead of making statements. Stop doing this and you’ll instantly come across as more authoritative.
I’d love to read your stories or answer questions – post in the comments below.
Disclosure: Some of the links included in this post are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase. Find out more.
Cover photo by Daan Stevens on Unsplash.
Article photos by by Oleg Laptev, Joshua Ness and rawpixel on Unsplash.
