I know I've talked about the ol' "Elevator Speech" at various times over the past few years, but I wanted to revisit it with a bit of a twist. I'm calling it the "Elevator Shaft Speech" (remember this was MY creation when everyone steals it)...which is just the elevator speech, but in about 1/10th the time...or "Crap...I've been pushed down a shaft and have like 5 seconds to live"--
So let's say we're at a business mixer somewhere and instead of using that nicely prepared, smooth sounding Elevator Speech...someone rolls up on you from behind, taps you on the shoulder, does the awkward glance at your name tag and says...
"So...tell me who you are and what you do"... And here you've got a mouth full of cheese and a damp hand from holding a sweaty bottle of cold beer...and wham, you suddenly have to answer!
What do you say? What quickly comes to mind? This is where you need the Elevator Shaft Speech? Something you can say off the cuff, quickly, in like 10 seconds that encapsulates all you do for your company and/or humanity?
My suggestion is that you make one right away, and to make it as compelling as possible to the listener. And the listener may vary depending on the audience, venue, etc.
For instance, let's pretend you are a doctor (here I go with the Doctor thing again...sheesh, I'm like George Costanza always pretending to be an Architect...anyway) and you are in a mixer full of other doctors...in that case, your Elevator Shaft Speech may be more technical and focused on the type of treatments you provide. However, if you were in a room full of patients, the Elevator Shaft Speech would probably be about the sicknesses you attack and/or the symptoms you try to identify.
So think about yourself and what you do... chances are you're going to be in more mixers with patients than with other doctors...so your Elevator Shaft Speech should be about how you help people vs the stuff you sell.
Here are some examples to follow:
Radio Ad salesperson -- "I help companies create tons of new revenue"
Insurance salesperson -- "I help people cut costs by about 30%"
Technology salesperson -- "I attack bugs and viruses all day"
...of course you can then follow with your company name, what you sell, etc...but the opening is designed to just get the other person to quickly "get" what you REALLY do for people.
Got it? Now give it a try and see if you don't suddenly become the life of the party...well, at least not a wall-flower at every mixer.
GB
