by Martin Perelmuter, President and Co-Founder of Speakers’ Spotlight

One of the first things you’re told as an entrepreneur or a sales professional is that you need an “elevator speech”. You know the drill. If you happen to get onto an elevator with a big potential client, and have 30-60 seconds to tell them about your product, service or business, what would you say?

In theory, it’s a great exercise, as it forces you to condense your pitch down to it’s essence and communicate your value proposition in the simplest way possible. But do they really work? I must admit that over the course of the past 15 years in business, I’ve never really had a great elevator speech, and perhaps more importantly I’ve never really used one. Of course, maybe if I had one, I’d be more inclined to use it, but I’ve always felt that it seemed a bit contrived.

I decided to do a bit of research, and asked a number of friends and colleagues if they have an elevator speech, and if so, how often they use it. Despite the fact that each of these people were successful entrepreneurs, it turns out that most of them did not have one, and those that did rarely used it. Why is this? And more importantly, what’s the solution?

The answer to why is simple. They’re not natural ways of communicating a message. If you’re at a networking event or out socially with friends, and someone asks you what you do, delivering the standard elevator speech is a sure way to drive the other person away from you as fast as possible. They don’t feel authentic. They don’t communicate who you are or why you do what you do. So what’s the solution?

I recently heard marketing expert Mitch Joel speak on the topic of “Personal Branding”. He recommended trying a different approach, which I believe works much better. Next time someone asks what you do, answer using the following framework: “You know when… [insert problem here]. What I do is… [insert solution here]”.

I’ve tried this out a few times over the past couple of weeks, and it works much better. I was also able to change the answer depending on who asked, by framing it in a way most relevant to them. Whether speaking for 60 minutes or 60 seconds, effective communication requires clarity and authenticity. I encourage you to try this approach, and let me know how it works for you.

Tags: communicating ideas, communication, effective speech, elevator speech, Martin Perelmuter, message, Mitch Joel, pitch, speakers