How many stories are in your elevator pitch

It’s 7AM. You dust off your “conference casual” attire, throw on a piece of jewelry or two (is gold still on trend?), hop into your preferred mode of transportation, and walk through the doors of a high-value networking event.

You know very well that you’re headed into a situation that is part selling; part listening.

The listening part is the easy part. The selling part? We need a strategy for that.

Quick story.

At last week’s PA Conference for Women, I found myself face-to-face with a ton of potential clients. With almost 9000 women in attendance (!), the opportunities to pitch my services were plentiful, but they had to happen quickly.

Luckily, I had my elevator pitch on lock.

“Hi, I’m Amie Sheridan. I offer personal branding services for women in business.” (x100)

Most of the recipients of my pitch responded with a variation on “Oh! That’s great!”

But, as it turns out, my 10-word elevator pitch wasn’t enough… It was just an appetizer.

To really get someone’s attention in this ocean of a room where the crowd noise was high, I needed to serve up an entree — something these women could really sink their teeth into, quickly.

“Do you do much public speaking? We position our clients for speaking opportunities, and we also ghostwrite keynotes.”

This is where the light bulbs started to flicker, pens were picked up from the table, and email addresses were exchanged.

It wasn’t enough to dish out the high level summary, ad nauseam. I needed to be armed with the menu, and I needed to quickly read each situation to decide which dish to drop.

Have you been there?

As someone who has been honing their pitch for the greater part of a decade, I’ve learned a thing or two about in-person pitching.

I’ve learned that:

✅ Your pitch cannot be one-size-fits-all.

✅ Your pitch must have more than one story.

✅ Your pitch must connect, quickly.

✅ Not everyone you pitch is going to be a fit; in fact, most won’t be, and that is OK!

Whether you are a consultant pitching your services, a founder pitching a business, or an executive positioning yourself for your next role, prepping your multi-story elevator pitch is an uber-important step.

Have I mentioned that we can help with that?

If you’d like to learn more about our personal branding services for women in business — yes, we will help you craft your pitch — I invite you to book a consult.

We will help you position yourself for your next big WIN, and our opportunity list of industry networking events, speaking applications, award deadlines and high-value memberships is ready and waiting for your consideration.

Thank you for being a valued subscriber of WINS List.

Expand your influence. Build your wealth. Celebrate your success.

Amie