How To Write a Memorable Elevator Pitch Using Storytelling

Giving a clear elevator pitch is tough and a slightly unnerving task. Instead, let’s break down how to come up with a clear and concise elevator pitch using storytelling.

Picture this:

You are at a networking party, mingling with group of entrepreneurs, enjoying the crab cakes and light conversation when suddenly Sally, who works in HR and is wearing a quirky ruby red jacket, turns to you and you hear her utter that daunting sentence…

‘So, tell us about yourself, what do you do?’

What to do?

How to best explain you in 60 seconds?

Sally is not asking for a two-hour rendition of your working endeavours in three acts, but she is asking you to tell her a story. This is exactly the angle that we are going to use in order to approach writing a memorable and impactful elevator pitch. 

We are going to focus on telling a short story, where you are the protagonist and where, in the next 60 seconds, you will make yourself memorable to red jacketed Sally.

What is an elevator pitch?

In essence an elevator pitch is a short and sweet explanation of who you are and what you do. It is a marketing tool to sell yourself and should be impactful and incite the person receiving to want to hear more.

So, in the same way you would analyse and understand any merchandise you may sell start by studying yourself. Think about how you, as a product, can be beneficial to a consumer. 

How to go about producing an elevator pitch using storytelling?

1. Knowing You

First step is to properly identify yourself. I suggest starting off with doing a personality test.   The 16 Personalities Test gives a clear result of who we are and what our driving forces are (I am a Campaigner, in case anyone is interested, so I’m all about emotions and intuition)

In order to be authentic, you need to understand what you stand for and what you are passionate about so take five minutes now and write down your core values and beliefs, (mine are, loyalty, honesty and clear communication.)

Remember. We are all generally self-aware, but sometimes it is easy for the overly confident to get caught up in their strengths and for the unconfident to forget all about them. By understanding your strengths in an honest way, you’ll be able to know what you can bring to the table. Being assertive in our strengths and weaknesses is essential. 

2. Build Your Story                                          

Look carefully at what you have written down and now think of a story in your life which best emphasizes and demonstrates these points.

For example, if what you value most of all is honesty, don’t tell Sally, ‘I’m super honest’ she’ll likely not believe you. Instead tell Sally a story about a time where your honesty resulted in you gaining a sale with a client or even losing one, we are looking for honesty after all.

Find real examples from your day to day life, that will perfectly illustrate what your core values are. Our good friend Sally in red will get to know you so much more from that simple story than if you’d told her how you were valedictorian and the smartest person in your high school.

Get Thinking:

Have a brainstorm about different stories and experiences that you could use to fully show someone who you are.

Find a way to incorporate them or use them to explain how you got to where you are.

3. Boil The Story Down

Remember we don’t have long with an elevator pitch so you are going to have to boil this story down to its key elements.  

With a basic outline which will centre around you, you will want to tell people :

a. How you started off

In storytelling, this is when you would give your character colour and a little personality, like the fact that we know Sally wears a Quirky Jacket. 

Ideally you want your audience to know something interesting about you when you start off giving your elevator pitch. Perhaps if you are multicultural and that is relevant to your current field, that’s where you bring it in.

Choose something about yourself that illustrates you quite clearly

b. What motivated you to get to where you are 

What influenced you to care about your entrepreneurial enterprise. 

In storytelling this is where there is a change, 

“mingling with group of entrepreneurs, enjoying the crab cakes and light conversation when suddenly….”

What is your suddenly? Was there a turning point where you felt compelled to venture into a business idea, or where you realised which career was best suited to you? 

c. Why you finally got to where you are 

This is your conclusion or your ‘aha’ moment, when you wrap section a and b together and create a killer conclusion where people understand clearly why you are so proud and passionate of where you’ve got to.

4. Check Your Elevator Pitch Using Storytelling

 Ok so far so good. But you now need to check your elevator pitch. Ask yourself does this story really give an idea to Sally of:

 Who you are and what you stand for?

What can you bring to the table?

and…

In your elevator pitch, you’ll want to convince people that you are trust worthy and show them what makes you stand out from the crowd. The best way to do this is by creating a connection with the other person and allowing them to get to know you. We tend to be more trusting when we understand someone and feel close to them. So, ensure you are being:

Engaging and conversational

If the answer is a good yes then move on to point 5. If there is something important missing then review all of the steps above and try again!

5. Practice Your Pitch

Now comes the nerve-wracking part because you need to test it out. You’ll never know how a story gets received unless you see other people’s reaction. So, practice and practice some more. Test out your elevator pitch as much as possible with people. Try and adapt it to suit different audiences.

If you are lucky enough to know a little about your audience, make sure that your pitch is well catered to your them. Your pitch shouldn’t be all about you but also about how you can help the other. Try not to create a script that you’ll use for everyone like a common template. You should try to adapt your pitch and to make it unique for each individual. It’s well known that people like like-minded people, so if you can find common ground, you will be more likely to be able to grab their interest and attention. Consider also how you can build connection with this person quickly.

6. Scoring a Goal

If Sally turns away from you after your story and says “Anyone want to grab another crab cake?” you’ll know your pitch didn’t land quite where you were hoping for it to. If instead she leads with a follow up question, that’s your hook and you know it will have been well received. Pay attention to people’s feedback, whether intentional or not.

A successful elevator pitch will lead to ‘buy signals’. This can be as little as a simple raised eyebrow to a ‘can I have your number’. 

This is fundamentally what we are looking for. An elevator pitch is a great way of getting people to hear a snippet of what you do, like a trailer for a film. So if you’ve made that connection and you have managed to grab people’s interest this is when you lead to a coffee, a chat or sending Sally an interesting article about how crab cakes have been linked to be good conversation starters in work parties, she’ll like that because she works in HR remember?

In the meantime, good luck with your respective Sallys.

Best,

Daniela Parkes