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Developing Your Elevator Speech

Guest post by: Susan Easton

Article Overview: Every successful sales person has an Elevator Speech prepared, polished, and ready to use whenever they have a minute or two of your undivided attention – like they would during an elevator ride from the top floor of a building to the bottom floor.

Developing Your Elevator Speech

Even if you have never heard it called this before, you have likely been on the receiving end of one at some point. Every successful sales person has an Elevator Speech prepared, polished, and ready to use whenever they have a minute or two of your undivided attention – like they would during an elevator ride from the top floor of a building to the bottom floor.

At some point in your job search you will be have an opportunity to talk to someone about yourself and all of a sudden, you are a sales person in need of an Elevator Speech!

Your ability to sell what you have to offer to an employer in 30 seconds to 2 minutes can uncover hidden job opportunities, give you a head start over other job seekers, or create an important networking relationship for future career opportunities.

Your Elevator Speech should be prepared well in advance and polished to perfection before you need it.

What makes a good Elevator Speech? The same things that make a good television commercial. Focus on your unique strengths and qualifications relevant to the career opportunity you are targeting in the same way a television commercial focuses on the advantages of using a product.

Watch your language and presentation style. Use the formula: language + motivation = outcome. In other words, positive language + positive body language and behaviours = a positive and favourable outcome. This means there is absolutely no room for negativity.

When you see advertisements, you will notice that they emphasize the positive outcome you will gain from the product, not the downside.

Your Speech should include your unique selling proposition, or in other words it should answer the question, “Why should I hire you?” You can also add an intriguing hook such as, “Hi, I’m Nancy Jones. I’m responsible for Canada’s future.” “Really? How is that?” “I’m a teacher and I love to show students how to be leaders. I’m also interested in getting into organizational development.”

Once you have a developed a fluid, confident, and natural sounding commercial you have a multi-purpose tool for your targeted job search! Here is a sampling of opportunities to use your Elevator Speech:

• Career and Job Fairs
• Cold calling potential employers
• When leaving a voice mail message for potential employers
• Networking functions
• When speaking to “higher ups” within your organization
• Job interviews in response to “Tell us about yourself”

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Article Tags: Career, career coach, elevator speech, employment, executive career, interview coach, Personal Branding, Resume



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