oh hey there today I'm going to teach you the absolute best way to craft your elevator pitch but let's first address the elevator in the room okay people don't like to be pitched at as soon as they think that you were spitting some rehearse salesy mumbo-jumbo they tunafish out I remember meeting an entrepreneur at an event and when someone asked him what he did he was dead in the eyes he shared his perfectly rehearsed elevator pitch of what his company does with lots of marketing speak and business jargon and I noticed myself finding him unlikable in that moment and difficult to connect with and I thought I need to convey what I do Who I do it for and give people also the impression that I'm worth knowing but not at the expense of building real human relationships because ultimately you know it people do business and hire people who they like so in this video I'll break down a meaningful compelling elevator pitch formula that isn't your mother's formula this is updated for today's modern workforce and stake the end because I also give you the tools to articulate this well in an interview setting because it is a little bit different one thing you should know about me is I look forward to Monday mornings because I love my career in HR and recruiting and my goal is to make sure you love Monday's too life's too short to hate your job so join me for a new video by subscribing to this channel and hit the bell to be notified now what I want you to do is first write down a few things get out a word document and write down what do I do who do I do it for how do I do it why it matters and then include any cool accomplishments or recognition or any reasons why you love your job okay so you have this all written on a word document and do not wordsmith it just get something down it's funny because describing what you do is something that doesn't come super naturally to a lot of us so don't be hard on yourself here okay so now that you have all these elements do not be afraid to mix them up pull them in a different order and then what I want you to do is to add a question to the front and the end of your pitch the question at the front and the back is a classic facilitation maneuver just because bringing your audience in with questions will make them more engaged and not feel like they're being pitched at the question should set up the problem you solve or the context for your business role so after you've written all this down say it through a few times shorten it and refine it I'm sure this is clear as mud so let me give you an example someone asks what do you do start with a probing question are you familiar with blockchain technology I'm the head of marketing at B company where I edit enterprise customers on how blockchain can be utilized for their business it's still a technology people have a lot of questions about we just launched a free educational course that got a hundred thousand signups in one week how do you keep up with new technology now obviously if you are going around in a circle of introducing yourself at a networking event you can keep the first question and look for nods in the group but ditch the last one but see how this feels conversational he doesn't feel pitchy now let's do another one have you heard about how the unemployment rate is really low right now and all of these tech companies are fighting over Talent nods dogs I was hired at X company as the director of people to make sure it's a top-tier place to work so that we can hold on to the great talent we recruit I launched a retention program this year that reduced our regatta Bowl attrition by 15% do you have someone in my type of role at your company do you see how starting with a question around why your role is important but generalize to be something that others can relate to can have a sense of keeping it conversational while also lifting you up all right let's do one more you know how when people become business owners or entrepreneurs often their work-life balance goes out the window I am a virtual assistant who picks up all of those little tasks in their lives so they can breathe a bit and focus on what they do best making money have you been able to find the right work-life balance I love this one because it is simple there's no accomplishments in there but the significance of what you do is clear and you sound confident for pitfalls to be aware of first beware of using too much business jargon we build the centralized b2b SAS products in the cloud blah blah blah people will get lost in that jargon Forrest if you don't draw clear enough map they're second do not self described I have a creative hard-working professional NIP no one wants to hear that and you sound a little you know indulgent stick to the facts third don't feel the pressure to tell your whole story seriously the goal is for this to be enough for them to inquire more if they're interested but not too much to where they have a reasonable understanding of everything you do and fourth get this idea of pitching out of your head pick it up punt it over the fence to your neighbor's house it's their ball now your goal should be to get the conversation back to understanding what is important to them when you are asking questions and understanding the other person you are able to find ways to help them to add value to them and then impress them so much more deeply and this is truly the secret of networking these are the keys to the kingdom I have two highly effective strategies for you to use depending on what your end game is first if you are focused on networking with this person and building a meaningful business relationship then you should follow my approach called 60 seconds of value it is where you focus your conversation on understanding what is important to someone and then using my framework find a simple yet meaningful way to add value to them which will dramatically speed up the affinity in your relationship do you don't worry even if that person is a CEO and your entry level you can still find a way to add 60 seconds of I will link that video in the description and second if you are looking to get a job at the place where this person works change the conversation to be up about their biggest obstacle their team is currently facing at work then go home and do some research and then later send that person some of your findings and ideas now there are so much more that goes into this strategy so I will link a video on how to create one of these value validation projects in the description but truly this is one of the most potent ways to land a job especially if it's for a competitive job or if you don't have a lot of experience finally record yourself saying your elevator pitch and judge it yourself or ask a coach like myself or your mentor to tell you what they think be careful about asking friends and family because I mean they'll likely be too nice about it and they might not understand the professional context that you are dealing with it is pretty normal for your first draft to be convoluted long-winded fragmented so just really be open to critiques so also when you're in the job interview your elevator pitch will come in the form often of answering the question tell me about yourself this answer is make-or-break for you so I created a free worksheet download for you to hone your answer to this question I will link it in the comments and in the description make sure to like this video and subscribe to this channel thanks so much everyone Wi-Fi a high-five