The Skill Every Business Person Needs
Bloomberg says that it’s “a skill every businessperson needs”. Priscilla Hernandez, the Public Affairs Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Windhoek says that it’s one of the major skills that get focused on for every young African leader that gets selected to go to America to attend the Young African Leaders Institute. The skill we’re discussing here is the Elevator Pitch.
When you’re in business, you have to live your life as if there’s a new opportunity around every corner because you never know who you may meet on any given day. This is why is better to be prepared and ready in the event you meet your future investor in an elevator (or anywhere else) one day.
Being able to sum up unique aspects of yourself or your business in a way that excites others should be a fundamental skill. According to documentation provided by the US Embassy, “An elevator pitch is a concise, carefully planned, and well-practiced marketing message about your professional self that your mother should be able to understand in the time it would take you to ride up an elevator. It should contain a hook or theme, and go no longer than 60 seconds; resonate with your unique personality and interests and contain a follow-up request for a business card, a referral or a future meeting.”
Entrepreneurial Insights says that “An elevator pitch is definitely not a ‘sales pitch’. A sales pitch is a statement through which a sales person or business owner tries to sell a product or win more customers. However, an elevator pitch is a statement that only aims to put forth an idea and hope that the listener would be impressed by it and would want to know further.”
As you never know who you might meet today, this is why is best to be prepared and ready because being able to motivate yourself and your business idea might make all the difference in your career today.
To help you perfect your elevator pitch here is some material packed full with the do’s and don’t and the steps to follow :
US Embassy Material – Creating an Elevator Pitch (2)
Forbes – How To Craft A Job Search Elevator Pitch