The question: SO, what do you do? Your response: Um.....:)

Everybody has a story to tell.
In a room of motivated entrepreneurs that fact, on its own, is inspiring.



A few months back, I went to a networking luncheon where the women at our table got a chance to share.

One woman lived in the Caribbean and has written three books on inspiring others to,yup, thrive in their lives and emotional and spiritual well being.Others have started businesses or have come through horrible divorces or illnesses. No doubt each of these women were success stories. Several women talked about how  they get to help other women through their own chosen line of work.

Although the stories are inspiring and enlightening to me, most of us spoke for too long. I'm just as guilty! My own speech was a good solid two- three minutes and even though  my story seemed to have the table captivated, (I told my story of coming through Susan's workshops and learning to sing again, after losing my voice due to abuse.)It still was too long!

Then one woman told us what she does.She told us everything we needed to know in: (drum roll, please!) just 30 seconds! She even asked us all what we thought of her delivery. We all applauded. Her story was like ours,  concise and compelling, but she said it all in less than half the time.



 That day I made a mental note.

If you want to share with someone about your work, whether looking for a job or just introducing someone to your service or product, its a good idea to take the time to craft an elevator speech.  If we had each taken just 30 seconds,  no one would have been left out and there would have been time to ask questions to each other.  But just like good concise writing, a good elevator speech gets right to the point.In fact, the idea of the elevator speech is a short sales pitch designed to last the length of a 30 second to 2 minute elevator ride.

I need to write my elevator speech! I'll reveal what I come up with in a future post. But how about you? Here are some tips I gathered from information found on the web about
Writing Your Elevator Speech: 

• Remember an elevator speech is not about you, its about the needs of the person you are speaking to, the potential employer or client's needs. 

•  Your speech should "wow" your listener. Use action words to describe your uniqueness and potential to add value.

• Keep your speech to more than three or four main points. 

• Like any speech, practice in front of others. Practice in  front of a mirror! Practice until the delivery sounds natural, not forced. Make eye contact and use vocal variety. You'll know you've succeeded in igniting a passion in others if you receive a question back and therefore invite further conversation about your product or service. Note: If you plan on memorizing your speech, you risk forgetting some part of it and causing a block. I know my story inside and out, but only because I have had plenty practice delivering it.  Now I  need to start working on my elevator speech.

• A typical elevator speech should be just 30-45 seconds, no more than 60 seconds if possible. If you feel better jotting down key points on a prompt card  to keep with you and review  before networking opportunities, feel free.

Here's what goes into crafting your elevator speech; 

1. Introduction: Your name/title/business 
2. What You Offer: Demonstrate value in your service or product, how it can help this potential client or employer.
3. The WHY: importance of what you do and why what you offer matters and your competitive advantage and  what sets you apart from your competition. This is where you show your passion.
4. Success Story:You could provide a story about how a customer was helped by your service or product, or a statistic of how many people your service or product has helped or in my case, I sometimes get to play a song live. Oh, the perks of being a musician!
   
5. Ask for Action: If you want to request action, do so. It could be as simple as asking to hand out a card/flier or brochure with more information, or take their contact information or I'm beginning to sell my songwriting workshops, so I need to ask if they'd like

On my facebook page a few weeks back,  I asked fans to share with me what the project means to them. I was looking for sound bytes for some power point slides we were putting together to use in our future trainings and presentations. 


Some additional resources: 


Read How to Give an Elevator Speech

Why Your Business Needs an Elevator Pitch (Tips on How to Target Your Audience)

Still stuck? Try this:
Harvard Business School Elevator Speech Tool


Like this post? Feel free to share it on your blog or social media site. Please give credit back to this blog and Vanessa Stevens and The Purple Song Project. http://www.purplesong.com Thank You! https://www.facebook.com/purplesongproject twitter.com/PurpleSong