An elevator pitch is a brief, persuasive speech that you use to spark interest in what your organization does. You can also use them to create interest in a project, idea, or product – or in yourself.

Pronunciation: [el-uh-vey-ter pich]

A brief talk or pitch intended to sell or win approval for something, as a product or business proposal:

A two-minute elevator pitch to a prospective investor can make or break it

Many people think this type of pitch is only useful for people in sales. In today’s world, where everyone is so busy and no one really has the time to sit and understand the other person’s perspective in detail, elevator pitch comes to play! Let it be job interviews, or a prospective funder, or an idea that we want to convince our school Principal to convert into action- we have 2 minutes to grab the attention of the person and make the person interested in us or our ideas.

Elevator Pitch is useful almost in every aspect of life. It is important that we know the techniques and prepares the right elevator pitch for ourselves.

To craft a great pitch, follow these steps:

• Identify your goal: What do you want to achieve by the end of pitching the idea?
• Explain what you do: Discuss your current status, how much you have started working on it and so on
• Communicate your USP: What you are good at, what is unique in your plan and why one should invest in you?
• Engage with a question: Any discussion should be one-way. There is a high possibility that the audience must have lost track. Keep the audience engaged by asking an open-ended question.
• Put it all together: It is like the conclusion of a lesson. When we are done, the last 20 seconds is to highlight the key points.
• Practice: Tailor your elevator pitch and practice it, so that it looks natural and not like you are reading it from somewhere else

Tips:

• Keep a confident body language
• Keep the elevator pitch original
• You can modify your elevator pitch for different audiences

How can an elevator pitch help you? Share with me in the comment section below.

About the author

Smruti Paradarshita is working in Pratham Education Foundation and works on aspects of Content Creation for the teacher capacity development portal: Gurushala. Any views expressed are personal.