I have never been comfortable with networking. It’s not that I don’t like meeting people. I love going new places and chatting up folks. I just hate being forced to socialize in an arena where everyone is trying to sell themselves. I listen politely all the while dreading the moment when they will ask me, “So, what do you do?” Then I freeze as all eyes turn to me expecting something clever to come out of my mouth. I turn pale and stutter, “I’m a ddd-ddd-designer.” Then, inevitably they respond with, “So you pick out furniture for people?”
It has come to my attention, rather, it has been pointed out on more than one occasion, that I really need to work on my 60 second elevator pitch. Being the research hound that I am, I went online looking for that magical website that would write it for me. Surprisingly, not one site would put the words together into a magical combination that just sings out the joy of Pi Design. But I did discover this cool tool on the Harvard Business School site. It’s an Elevator Pitch Builder that helps you fine tune and test the effectiveness of your spiel. It has helped me craft my wording a bit. Now I just have to practice saying the darn thing so I don’t look like a bad actor trying to remember my next line.
perfect Sharene… I will do as you say (you are always right!) and go read this…
So…what’s your pitch?
Still working on it, Beth. You know…these things take time and time is short supply these days as I am busy working on my Mastermind presentation. I am sure you understand. I promise you will be one of the first to hear my pitch once it is perfected.
I always thought elevator pitch was the hazy gunk that builds up around the buttons from all the grimy fingers. I guess I will have to check this out.