At any given moment, you should be ready to promote yourself to potential employers and clients. You never know when an opportunity will arise, so you need to have your elevator pitch ready. An elevator pitch is a brief summary of yourself and intentions. This should be short enough to give in an elevator ride, hence the name. Because there is little time, you need to focus on the essential information while also being interesting. Some key elements of a good elevator pitch include:

Introduction

Of course, you will introduce yourself, but you should also be making a connection with the listener too. Find something to bring up in the conversation that will impress the listener. Example: Hi! My name is Hannah. It is very nice to meet you. Your name sounds familiar. Are you the person who…?

Know your audience

Research key parties, jargon, and fields of interest. You will be a mini expert in these areas and will blow away your audience with your knowledge.

Summarize yourself

Share what you do professionally. Identify your accomplishments. Explain what your goals are for the future. Basically, you want to promote why you’d be valuable to their team.

Problem & Solution

In this step, you’d point out a problem the listener is having. You would then offer a solution to the issue. This is an additional way to flex your knowledge and skills.

Call to action

Encourage the listener to contact you immediately by ending the conversation with a call to action. A call to action, it is phrasing that entices the audience to respond to the message you are sending. Example: Again, it was nice meeting you. Let’s meet and discuss this further. Here is my contact information (hand them your business card).

Before you head out and give everyone your elevator pitch, you should practice in the mirror or on a friend. Remember to keep it short, sweet, and positive. When the listener reaches back out to you, that is when you can go more into detail and wow them further.

P.S. You got this!