You'll need your total word count to be less than 180 words, which is about the number you can include in a minute without haste. So what exactly is an elevator pitch? It doesn't matter if you climb 30 floors in the elevator or walk from the elevator to the conference room, you can quickly and safely express your value and how you can help. Let's imagine that you're in sales and you've just boarded an elevator with the CEO of a large manufacturing company. I used to think that an elevator pitch was a shortened version of a presentation or a sales proposition, so I tried to educate or sell in 30 seconds.
You have an uninterrupted 12-story journey with her and in those moments, in that small elevator, she's your captive audience. I'm sure you've heard the expression “practice makes perfect”. The more you practice, the more natural and comfortable it will be, and your memory will be better when you get in trouble when you're nervous in an interview or eagerly try to impress that big fish in 30 seconds as they climb the elevator together. You're in the elevator and go up from the lobby to the top floor to submit your resume to Human Resources in response to a job offer for the career of your dreams.
A strong promotional argument will allow you to summarize in the purest way who you are and what you offer, and that approach can help set you apart from all the other candidates competing for the same position. It's called an elevator pitch because it represents the amount of time you would have if you were stuck in an elevator with someone traveling from the bottom of the building to the top. If you only have a few seconds to sell a new concept to the world, debunk a long-standing myth, or inspire people to act, you need to know how to provide a perfect sales pitch.
