How Good is Your Elevator Speech?

photo credit: 陈霆

We’ve all heard it, we need to be able to describe our company and what we do in the space of time that it takes to travel from one floor to another in an elevator. And even in knowing it, it’s still difficult to conceptualize and spit out unless you’ve taken time to think about it, practice it, and modify it appropriately based upon feedback from those you’re talking to.

What does your conversation with someone you’ve just been introduced to sound like?

Him: “Hi, I’m Joe. What do you do?”
Me: “It’s a pleasure to meet you, I’m Tisha, I’m an owner at Paradux Media Group”
Him: “Paradux huh? What do you guys do?”
Me: “We’re a traditional advertising agency that specializes using social media, Facebook and Twitter, to expand our message and to create positive word of mouth for our clients. We manage Facebook and Twitter accounts for businesses.”

Short, sweet, but also critical. In those 35 words, a tremendous amount of information is passed, and if I’ve carried my message correctly, the person I’m speaking with now knows that first, Paradux Media Group is an advertising agency, second that we have a specialty, third why we believe that specialty is important, and fourth how we do it.

Now, I have an advantage because there aren’t many agencies doing what we do in social media and usually the person I’m talking to has more questions about my business after that initial conversation. Which I have intentionally set up and which gives me the opportunity to expand on my message without actually giving a speech. If your business is a little more mainstream, you’ll have to work harder to set it your introductory sentence to get the person to ask you another question about your business. But it can be done – with a little planning and word play.

Take a few minutes right now to imagine your introductory conversation and how you want to answer the question, what do? Then practice it so that it becomes habit and your automatic answer. Next listen for how people you’re talking to react – and modify it accordingly. This technique will help you to make sure your message is being carried every time you meet someone new, and will help to create the on-the-ground truth about what your business stands for in the community.