Elevator pitch is a brief speech that is used to quickly present a company, its idea, project or the employee himself. The pitch has to be precise and spark interest in what the company does. As the name suggests, the elevator pitch should last no longer than a short elevator ride, meaning between 20 and 30 seconds.

The main guidelines should be to make it interesting, memorable, and concise. Present what you or your company does and what makes it unique. The pitch is useful as an introduction to your company activities, but also to connect to potential business partners. When networking at job fairs or other events, be sure to use your elevator pitch as an introduction. An elevator pitch can also be used in job interviews when you want to quickly present your past work experience.

6 steps to creating an elevator pitch

Always start the elevator pitch with your introduction. Here is a useful guide on how to introduce yourself in an interview or similar event.

1. Identify goals: Decide what are the objectives of your pitch? Do you want the person to become your new business partner? Think about your business goals and create multiple pitches for different target groups.
2. Present what you do: Briefly describe what your company or you do and show the value in it. Think about what are the things that you want the audience to remember you for. Always remember that you need to be excited about the pitch as your enthusiasm might convince people to get in contact.
3. Present your uniqueness: If you use elevator pitch at a networking event, the chances are that everyone has heard a few pitches that day. To stand out, present what makes your company, idea or you unique and why you should be their next employee or business partner.
4. Add question: Elevator pitches can make the dialogue monopolized, so end it with an open-ended question to include others.
5. Make it brief: Limit the pitch to 20-30 seconds. When practising, remove unnecessary information that does not sound natural in a conversation or is not essential to understand your work.
6. Practice before using: Elevator pitch must be incorporated in the conversation. Practice it with colleagues and slightly change it, if it feels too scripted. However, do not forget the crucial information. When practising, also spend some time adjusting the body language to spread the same message.

Lastly, when you attend a networking event, always have business cards that you can give to potential business partners. This will improve your chances of further conversation via e-mail of social media, such as LinkedIn.

To learn more about preparing an elevator pitch, we also recommend this video: https://youtu.be/wVYyCUwDFhE