Five Practical Tips for Creating a Winning Elevator Speech

Imagine you are running out of a burning building, and you see a stranger outside. You want to tell them to call for help, but no matter how excited you are about getting out alive, you can't bombard a complete stranger with tonnes of information.

An elevator speech in an elevator -- imagine that!

You have to condense it to about the amount of time you'd take to talk to a stranger in a crowded elevator as it went to the next floor.

Elevator speeches are condensed stories about you and your business, but hopefully no fire is involved.

Last month I wrote about lessons learned to succeed at giving a great elevator speech. Based on numerous emails in response to that post, here are five more important tips to creating a winning elevator speech.

1. Hook 'Em

The best advertisements don't immediately indicate what they are selling -- they make you wonder what they are all about using a hook. Something that draws you in. 

I have a friend that used to sell Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPS) which protect electronics from dying during a power failure. He'd often start his elevator speech with: "I sell peace of mind."

Be creative, it's okay to be a bit vague and confusing -- that's part of what hooks us to want to know more.

2. Silence is Golden

The golden rule in sales, once you've delivered your pitch, shut-up. Really. In sales, the first person to speak after the pitch loses -- if the sales person tries to beef up the pitch right after giving it, they appear weak, and unable to stand by their product or service. If the customer speaks first, they show interest or at least, say right away that they aren't interested.

Give your listeners time to think about what you just said with the hook. Wait for their response -- in a group setting, this would be confused facial expressions -- or in person -- they may ask you "what are you talking about?"

You have to be quick to tell it all -- without selling for success.

3. Reel 'Em In

After their response to your hook and silence, here's your shot to reel them in -- don't sell. It's important to explain the hook, but you don't have their permission to sell to them. Yet.

The whole point of reeling them in is to explain what you do, and how you help people. If you tell someone how you make other people's lives easier, they may be more inclined to seek your help.

4. Offer to Help

After you explain how you help others, offer to help them as well -- but don't sell. You provide a service which they or those they know, may need. Offer to help them and those they know.

Listen to their feedback to determine if they are interested in your services. If not, offer to help them promote their services. If they share your services with their friends, you've still given a great elevator speech.

By offering to promote them, you are opening the door for you to get your message out to their circles, and that's never a bad thing.

5. Contact Info

Always wrap up leaving them with a way to contact you. Give them a business card, mention your Twitter handle, or tell them how they can reach you by phone or any of the other social media.

If they don't know how to reach you, regardless of how they percieved of your elevator speech, you'll never hear back from them!

5 Tips to Win Over a Crowded Room with your Elevator Speech

I've been crafting a new business, which is really an amazing process. 

Going out and talking to people to find out what they like and don't like about the current products and services, and then working to resolve those issues is an incredible journey for my new company and my own self-discovery.

There's more to networking than business cards.

A wise person once told me, the best bosses don't command their staff to do their jobs, they ask them how they can help their staff do their jobs better.

But what happens when the uber boss -- mainly moi -- is looking for someone to assist me in doing my job better?

It's an interesting paradox, because part of being a good leader is to always -- always -- remain confident in your abilities to lead. 

I'm not saying when in doubt, make it up. When I don't know the answer, I say so -- but I always follow-up with: "I'll find out."

No one knows everything. 

Which brings us back full circle -- who's the boss go to for help?

For years, I've been a big fan of the whole meetup phenomenon. A handful of years ago, I stumbled upon meetup.com for a social group related to one of my many hobbies.

I was instantly impressed at finding people in my neighborhood, interested in the same things I was, and even more impressed that they were interested in getting together to swap stories and experiences.

I've made some great friends through meetup.com -- which really is amazing, because not to knock the fabric which this blog is written on, but most people online are crazy.

Well, okay -- not most. But there are a lot of whackos out there in the cyberworld.

A real elevator speech?

I've been looking for people to share my experiences with professionally. I've joined professional development organizations in the past -- great people, but the most dull and dreary events.

It's one thing to find someone you can spend hours talking shop with, it's another if the venue or the event you are at is so dull, you're about ready to roll up in the corner and go for a snooze.

So I was hesitant to join any meetup groups for professional purposes. I prefer to sleep in my own bed thank you very much comfy corner.

But I've since attended a handful of professional meetup events, and been quite impressed. They were well run, well managed, and definitely not dull.

I can talk shop, and even more interesting, by simply listening to others, often solve my own issues.

And I'm learning -- I'm always learning -- but from these meetups, when we're asked to give our 30-second elevator pitch, I am learning from others what works, what doesn't, and that there are still a few crazies on the net that make their way into the room.

Like the guy that began to chew out one of the presenters in front of everyone in the middle of his presentation, simply because he didn't agree with the perspective of the presenter.

Awkward.

But in honor of yesterday's iPhone 5S and 5C release, as Steve Jobs used to famously say, but wait, there's more . . . 

Here are 5 things I've learned so far about winning over a crowded room with your elevator speech:

1. Be Front and Centre
   We were in a packed room of about 250 people, and I was constantly cramping my neck trying to see who was speaking, as most just stood up wherever they were to speak. Then, this one guy got up, started giving his speech, and while talking, waked up the middle isle, and right to the front of the room. Then he began to go back, again down the middle isle, as he wrapped up his speech. BRILLIANT! All eyes followed his every move, and made him all the more memorable.
   
2. Wear Bright Bold Colors
   I'm no fashionista, but even I washed out in my black suit and colourful tie. I noticed I paid more attention to men and women in bright red, blue and yellow as they stood out from the rest of the group.
   
3. Be Bold and Brief
   Half the room appeared to be developers and SEO specialists at one event. Then this guy stood up and declared: "I'm the best developer in this room, want to know more, I'm here." Got my attention, and showed some moxie.
   
4. Be Generous
   Of all the speakers, aside from the organizers, only one stood up, and thanked everyone for coming, sharing their stories, and then he thanked the organizers for a wonderful event. Not all business is rough and tough conquer and divide, a lot can be said for leaders that show some humility and humanity.
   
5. Love Bacon
   A woman concluded her introduction with: ". . . and I love bacon." Everyone laughed. Actually, later at the start of another elevator speech, a guy said: "and I love women that love bacon." Humour goes a long way in winning over people, especially if you want to be the one with the long line of people awaiting to talk to you during a break or at the end of the schedule of events. No, you don't have to love bacon, but it certainly doesn't hurt.