Bord’s Tip: 30 Second Elevator Speech
30 Second Elevator Speech - Helps you Focus More. I find today’s professional world quite demanding. A lot of industries are dog eat dog industries wherein a person can only succeed if a competitor fails. In the office, you need to be on your toes and stay on the cutting edge so that you will not become obsolete. For many business persons, staying ahead of the competition is no longer a want but now an extreme need. Therefore, any person who wants to keep up in today’s dizzying pace needs to keep himself sharp. Not only skills but his mind also. To be able to stay ahead of the competition, one is required to have laser beam focus on his goals.
To follow your goals means you need to know what your doing to reach those goals. I have read a lot of books on how to become an effective person, whether it employee or businessman and generally they have a common advise — Know What You’re Doing. You see, in the course of running our projects, duties and lives, distractions come about which sometimes derail us on our path to our goals. That is why we need ways to remember “what we need to do” so we can stay focused on our goal. This is were the 30 Second Elevator Speech comes in.
30 Second Elevator Speech - What is it all about?
The 30 Second Elevator Speech was designed as way for people of all walks of life to be able to “remember their path”. The idea behind it is that by “memorizing” a couple of lines describing what you do, and being able to say it in 30 seconds or less, you will be able to better internalize the answer to the question “what do you do?”.
One way to fully understand about this concept is to imagine yourself inside an elevotor going toward the ground floor in a very high building. All of the sudden, a person whom you know is the president of FORTUNE 500 company steps into the elevator and joins you going down. He glances at you and says “Hi, I am ___________. You seem to be an interesting chap, what do you do?”. Naturally, you would want to put your best foot forward so what do you say? Note that since you’re in an elevator you only have at most 30 seconds to reply and give a good impression. Now if you have you’re 30 Second Elevator Speech ready at hand, you will be able to deliver it and possibly impressing mr president. So to make it short, the 30 Second Elevator Speech is a business / professional “pickup line”.
The Benefits of having a 30 Second Elevator Speech
So what if you have a 30 Second Elevator Speech? What good will it do to you? Plenty! First, you will find out that by memorizing your 30 second elevator speech is like reminding yourself that you are doing these things because they are steps towards your goal. Consider the following scenarios:
- In the elevator with the Director of your department - Out of the blue he asks you: “How is your project about the synthesis of metaloid compounds? (Yeah I just made it up, the point is he is asking the status of your project!). Woundn’t it be better if you can answer with a
Oh, the project has already reach its second milestone and we are currently 3 days ahead in the production of the second component.
than saying “uh, its going pretty well”. The CEO will definitely be more impressed with the former responds. POINT: By knowing your project status and putting it as your 30 second elevator speech you are always ready to let people know about. It projects an aura that you are in control and aware of your projects details. And by “memorizing” your speech you subconsciously allow yourself to focus on your project.
- In a Computer Expo with a lot of potential clients - You’re walking around looking for possible clients to offer your freelance services. You shake hands with a few business owners and they ask you. “So what do you do?” Do you answer “I am a freelance system administrator” or would you rather say
I am System Administration Consultant specializing in Web Server / Database server optimization. I currently provide server optimization services for FreeBSD / Linux, Apache, MYSQL and PHP web application platforms.”
Guess which lines gets most attention?
- You bumped into a business partner who happens to be with a possible investor for business - If the investor asks you about your business, does the line “My business is about provide training services” sound better than
I am currently invovled in business and leadership development. We provide people Leaderhip and business development strategies to people who wish to upstart their own business”
30 Second Elevator Speech - The Principles Behind it
Picture this: A burglar breaks into your house and points a gun a you. He will only spare your life if you are able to tell him what do you do in less than 30 seconds. In life, there are instances that require you to make quick responses. And you are able to use your 30 Second Elevator Speech in a bat of an eye, then you are already on your way to be successful. Whether its in your Job, studies or even in your business. The 30 Second elevator speech may be the only line that keeps you from the bigger opportunities in life.










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