Perfect Your Elevator Pitch
You’ve just stepped into an elevator, as the doors begin to slide shut in steps your DREAM collaborator, employer or customer. You’re only going up 1 floor so you have 30 seconds alone with them, this is your chance…
What you say to pitch yourself to someone in a succinct 30 seconds, that’s your elevator pitch.
Why do you need to pitch yourself in 30 seconds?
The Elevator Pitch is something I first learnt when I was COO of my own fashion brand. I was in pitches for funding, at networking events, and applying to stockists and all of them needed quick intros to what it is that I was trying to sell them. Its a practice statement usually constructed for spaces like pitches or sales, but since becoming a freelance creative and having to pitch myself to people at countless networking events and collaboration sugegstions I’ve found it to be a pretty useful sentence to have under my belt.
Why 30 seconds? Because people are busy, and because if what you are trying to do is too complicated to give an overview of in under a minute then honestly, it’s probably too complicated full stop.
I’m a rambler, everything I do has loads of research and context behind it that I want to explain to communicate the value in my mission. But when you first meet a stranger, they don’t care. You can continue the conversation after your elevator introduction and break down all the amazing detail and inspirations that bulk out your work, but if you go in with a long rambling story, they’re going to tune out.
When should you use it?
If you do find yourself face to face with someone you admire it’s the perfect time. If you meet a cool creative in the smoking area it’s the perfect time. If you’re telling your prospective client or employer about your work it’s the perfect time. Even if you’re trying to to explain to your dad what it is that you actually to - it’s the perfect time.
What should you say?
I kind of hate anything too formulaic, because you lose some of the personal touch. But here’s a rough framework and some examples I’ve used in the past. If I’m doing outreach for The Grey I say:
“Hi, my names Daisy, I’m the founder of an independent fashion magazine called The Grey. It’s a counter culture zine that I founded to give platform to the impactful stories around fashion where it intersects with our day to day experiences of things like gender, politics or conflict… I have a background as a fashion critic and I thought it was important to create a space for these topics, and share them in a way that was slow, well researched and accessible - I kind of think of it as an anti-fashion-media publication!”
Simple, short overview.
my name and my title
what my work is (a zine about fashion & culture)
a little extra nudge about why it’s actually important (my industry experience, and my work’s point of difference - being a critic & creating space for slow journalism)
There’s loads that isn’t in there - but if I’ve hit the nail on the head with my intro, there will be follow up questions. If you know and admire the person you’re introducing yourself to, you can always add in a personal touch like “I saw your work on X and it really inspired me, could I ask how you…”
Another example I used to use in a pitch setting when I used to own a clothing brand:
“Hi, my name’s Daisy, I’m the co-founder of ethical fashion brand Monozygotics. We craft high-fashion designs out of sustainably sourced deadstock, and make each item on order to customise to our customers personal size and any disability adaptations needed. We were sick of choosing between style and sustainability, or being limited by what clothing was accessible to us - we think you can have it all”
Again there was SOOOOO much more to say about the brand around transparency, individually, playfulness, etc. etc. But that one sentence starter was all people needed to know to set the stage for the rest of my presentations and know what it was I was talking about.
So thats it. That’s your elevator pitch. Try writing some up and practice using them next time you’re out networking, instead of fumbling to think about how to best present yourself. Remember to use words that feel powerful (as cringe as it can feel) - why your works ‘important’ or ‘disruptive’ or who it ‘platforms’.
Get out there!