Fun With Elevator Speeches

I’m a member of my local chamber of commerce, which can be a good source of business leads if you choose to participate in activities. Every month, they host a networking breakfast where people come to meet other business people, get leads and, let’s be honest, try to sell each other their goods or services. At my first networking breakfast, I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do, so I sat back, ate my breakfast and listened to several pitches. When asked what I did for a living, I would answer, “I’m a freelance marketing and advertising copywriter.” After saying this out loud a few times, I wasn’t sure that people really understood what that meant. After explaining that I’m not a reporter, nor do I sell promotional trinkets or have any type of legal background whatsoever, (it’s copywriter, not copyrighter) I realized that my elevator speech needed some tweaking.

I first of all recognized that people were asking me “what I did” not “what was my title,” so answering, “freelance copywriter” didn’t answer their question. So I set out to really answer the question of “what do I do” in terms of “why should they care.”

I came up with a two-part, interactive elevator speech:

Jayme: “Hi, I’m Jayme Thomason and I help my clients get new customers, keep customers and ultimately grow their businesses.”

Prospect: “How do you do that?”

Jayme: “By creating marketing materials that are smart and creative and that inspire action.”

Prospect: “Oh, I see. What kinds of clients do you work for?”

I just went to my second networking breakfast to test out the new elevator speech. I admit, I was nervous taking off my comfortable freelance copywriter label and putting on the new, but I was surprised by how effective it was. I could see the understanding in people’s eyes when I talked about what I do and they had real questions about pieces I’d created and clients I worked for. I also felt a new sense of confidence in my business and services because at the end of my conversation, I knew I had explained my services in a way that they would be able to refer business. To me, that’s the goal of these networking events, so if people don’t understand what you will “do” for them, they won’t be able to tell others.

Got a good elevator speech? Share it here.