Creating a Crisp “Elevator Pitch”

How do you tell your “story” concisely, yet leave them wanting to know more? Sort of like reading a well written, enticing book jacket and wanting to read the first chapter. While the concept of the elevator pitch may sound a bit corporate, it is incredibly useful in everyday life. 

An elevator pitch is a short, clear introduction that explains who you are, what you do, and what you care about — in about 20–30 seconds. The name comes from the idea that if you stepped into an elevator with someone important and only had the length of the ride to introduce yourself, what would you say?

Here’s the thing — it’s not about sounding salesy or rehearsed. It’s really about clarity and authenticity.

A good elevator pitch helps someone quickly understand three things:

1.     Who you are, where you’re from (past)

2.     What you do or what you're interested in (present)

3.     What kind of opportunities or conversations you're looking for (future)

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Transcript

Kay 0:00

As long as it took you to ride in an elevator, can you tell someone your story? How do you want to position yourself? Low barriers to entry. Find the common ground. Proud about what it is you're sharing.

Ruth 0:10

Welcome to Net Collective, where we navigate everything together, from classroom to college to careers and beyond.

Kay 0:16

I'm Kay McBrearty, career coach and founder of Waterville Partners.

Vinita 0:19

I'm Vanita Patel, school psychologist in private practice.

Ruth 0:23

I'm Ruth Hayes, education professional and founder of Fulcio Prep. Net Collective. Navigating everything together, one conversation at a time. Today we're going to be talking about a topic I know we're really excited about. Before we get into it, elevator pitch. Kay, what is it?

Kay 0:41

Elevator pitch. Okay, so I get asked this question a lot because there are lots of different reasons that people would use it. First of all, the elevator pitch got its history and story with as long as it took you to ride in an elevator, can you tell someone your story and have it compelling enough that they want to hear more about your story? So nowadays people don't always take the elevators, they're taking the stairs. So I sort of reframed the elevator pitch into the stairwell story. And then it could be, depending on where you get your favorite coffee or lunch, it could be the Panera pitch or the Starbucks story. Anyway, it's really telling it's the book jacket, if you will. And you want people to read that jacket and then want to know more. So the places that you might see people using it in business, in networking, you know, students that are joining organizations on campus, they might have to go through a rush process or an interview process, and you might meet a lot of different people. Um, you could use it if you're a parent and your kiddo is new to a sport and you don't know any of the other parents, and you're meeting each other on the sidelines, for example. So there's a lot of different places that you can use this elevator pitch.

Ruth 1:58

And how is it useful? How does it help you to kind of have that ready to go?

Kay 2:02

Well, what you're trying to do is you're trying to connect with people and you can do an elevator pitch on the fly, but the best way to do an elevator pitch is to think about it beforehand and to map it out. And it can be um, I use the recipe of past, present, and future. So three different sentences, and that's really for business when you think about it. And that's where I started really focusing on helping people craft their elevator pitches, but then I realized there's so many other applications for it. And so um, if you think about it ahead of time, you would have your um your past talking about, okay, that is what it is. Like it's giving a little synopsis. Then your present is where are you now? And the future is what you really want to do. So if you're talking about a networking event or interviewing, those three pieces are pretty clear. The other thing is you don't have to use all three pieces every time you someone you're introducing yourself to somebody. So a lot of times when I do presentations, I'll say, Okay, everybody, turn to your partner and introduce yourself before I even start saying anything about an elevator pitch. Then I talk about the elevator pitch in the three sentences, and then I say, take five minutes, and two of those I want you to just jot down past, present, and future, and then I want you to reintroduce yourself to somebody. And it just reframes and gives it a different lens.

Vinita 3:21

It sounds like you're saying know your audience and you can adjust your elevator pitch to the right environment or to the right setting.

Kay 3:30

And so sometimes you might start with to me, the future's the biggest piece of this. Where are you going? Because somebody that you're talking to may be able to help you get there. You don't know. Um, but sometimes you may say, What I really want to do is this, and what I'm doing right now is X. Other times you might say, Well, I'm doing this, and I did that in my past, but I really want to do this in my present. So you can mix and match them, sort of like Legos. You can put them in any order, um, depending on the situation, and you don't have to use all three pieces. So that's just a really simple way to craft an elevator pitch. Um, what's interesting is right now, um, and we've talked about this a lot, students in particular don't necessarily feel comfortable having conversations.

Ruth 4:13

Well, because we have so much, so many fewer in-person conversations anyway. You know, think about 30 or 40 years ago, you would have to talk to somebody to buy something in a store or find out the hours or something. So much of that interaction is online now. I think a lot of people can be overwhelmed about the prospect of meeting a fresh person.

Vinita 4:31

Now, when when a lot of my clients and my children itself, when they say, Oh, I was talking to so-and-so, I always have to ask them to distinguish, well, were you actually talking to them expressively with your words, or what does that mean texting? And oftentimes it means, no, I was texting them, it's the same thing, mom, or it's the same thing, you know, and it's like, is it the same thing? To them it is.

Kay 4:54

Right, to them it is. And it's this human interaction piece. And the other piece of the elevator pitch is that if you are using your words and you are doing it face to face and you happen to be introverted, which about roughly 70% of my clients are introverted, this is not a comfortable thing for these people to do. And so, how can you practice makes perfect? How can you prepare? How can you think about it ahead of time? How can you practice it in a mirror, on Zoom, with your dog, with your family, with a friend, and and bounce ideas off of each other or find a circle of friends and say, hey, we're just gonna have, you know, elevator pitch and pizza night or something. I love that. And and do it in a very casual way and then see what works. And if it doesn't work, then try something different.

Vinita 5:42

You know, be because uh all three of us, we all have our private practices. We have, you know, as you call them, singles shingles, single shingles, single shingles, right? So so I forced myself to go to as many network meetings as possible, you know, so that I can obviously network and meet people and and learn what what my colleagues do and what and let them know what I do. But I find myself not being thrilled with how I come off at these networking meetings because you're meeting a sea of people and um planning, I agree, you know, I I'm the plan like I love planning things. You know, so I think that that's really important. But how can you prepare for when you go to like these different networking meetings? You know, I'm not really seeking a job, you know. Sure, if I make a new friend, great, but that's not really the goal because it's really not a social setting. So, how does someone prepare their elevator pitches in a networking meeting when there is no elevator and it's just meeting new people? Right.

Kay 6:43

Um, I guess two things have come to mind for me. One is what's the intention? Why are you going to this meeting? Like, what is it that you're hoping to either give or receive? Are you trying to receive information or are you trying to put yourself out there to make connections and maybe get referrals, for example? Exactly. Right.

Vinita 6:59

Both of those. It is to, it is to increase my my database of colleagues. Okay, whether they're psychologists, psychiatrists, other therapists, other educators, etc., and also to let them know what I do for a living. Exactly.

Kay 7:14

So in that case, you may, your past may or may not be critical. Depends on what you're saying. Do you want to highlight something from your past? But I almost would think if I'm putting myself in your shoes, here's what I do right now. And what I'm really looking to do is X, I want to get other colleagues that I can refer to. I want to understand other services that people offer. So if it's something that's not in my lane or my wheelhouse, I could refer them to you, for example. And I want to make sure that you know what I do. So in case it's not in your wheelhouse, you could refer them to me. Right. Right. So I think that's and and then just practicing and seeing what lands and what doesn't.

Vinita 7:52

And the past piece, I feel like I've brought up the past, or you know, or my, you know, my professional past when it's relevant and when it's organic, like or if there's a connection. If someone says, Oh, do you know so-and-so? He used to be work at this school district, and oh, I worked in the school, uh, that school district, maybe. Then, you know, exactly come up. Okay. Exactly.

Kay 8:13

No, that's perfect. So one is is the the context. What do you want to give and what do we want to receive? And then what how do you want to position yourself? And it's really just making these human connections with people. And and some of them are gonna be dead ends, and that's okay. You've at least you've refined and practiced your elevator pitch one more time. And again, we talk about like the little infinities and you know, atomic habits and just small little things. Every time you practice your elevator pitch, you're gonna get better. I mean, for my elevator pitch, at one point, I was telling people that I was a career coach, and I would get a lot of glazed over looks. And I was like, this isn't working. And so I reframed it and I said, I help people get unstuck or launch their careers or pivot their careers. And when I just changed my language a little bit, I then would connect with people like, oh my gosh, I wish I'd had you last year, or I wish my kiddo had had you, or and then if I got a glazed overlook, I'm like, okay, good, they don't need to pivot or launch, and they don't know anyone that needs to pivot or launch. That's fine. And then I would just sort of, you know, move on. Um, but you know, one of the things we could talk about is how do we create an elevator pitch, for example, for Net Collective? Because we're we're trying to help people understand what we do. Right. Um, and so I guess if we think about it, we can make it start with the present, like who are we, what do we do? Right. Um, I don't know if one of you want to take a stab at that.

Ruth 9:40

We're Kay Vanita and Ruth. We do our own things and we do this podcast.

Kay 9:44

Yeah, we do things individually and collectively, right? And um, and then you can talk about what we really want to do is X.

Vinita 9:52

What we really want to do as it relates to this podcast is to share our collective knowledge and really um help our listeners with some strategies to help them or their kids um with with issues related to the class to classroom, college, career, and beyond.

Kay 10:15

Right. So we know where we want to go with it. And we the by doing this, we can reach more people. And we've reached a number of people presently in our current businesses, and then we all have our our you know individual pasts, if you will. I mean, in the past, maybe for Net Collective, was this was a seed or an idea at one point, and we've grown it to the present, and here's where we want to go in the future.

Ruth 10:37

Right. How does just to stop you there for a second, how does one decide how much detail to go into? Because I know you know we all know all about ourselves, and there are lots of things you might want to bring out. How do you decide?

Kay 10:46

I I would I would keep it simple and I would keep it short, and I would go back to the book jacket. You want people to open up and ask, open your book, your story up to ask more questions. So if you lay it all out there and you pontificate for five minutes, they're gonna be asleep. I don't care how engaging you are, it doesn't matter. So, as you guys know, I do like to talk. But when it's talking about pitches, you gotta be, you know, on task. Succinct.

Vinita 11:14

And and then how do you pick the right words that you want to really say to represent yourself? Because detention spans are short. And if I'm at a networking meeting, if I'm interested in talking to someone, that person's gonna want to talk to there's there's like you know, 20, 50 people in that room. So how do we well highlight a couple of things?

Kay 11:35

This is my strategy. I mean, Stephen Covey has said seek first to understand and then be understood. So I I do like to walk up and introduce myself to somebody. You know, I may be the extrovert that's able to do that to an introvert, for example, or anybody. But then I ask them about themselves first. So tell me about yourself. And I listen to them, and hopefully they too know how to do an elevator pitch and not go on and on for a long time. Yeah. But then I say, Oh, that's interesting. Maybe there's one thing I can sort of dovetail on to either my present or my future or my past, and then use that as your entree into telling your story. Okay. And so part of it is a bit of improv. I mean, as opposed to having your script, I think having your script is for me personally is a comfort zone. Like at least I have some words. But keep in mind, when you introduce yourself to somebody, they have no clue what's coming out of your mouth. So if you have your elevator pitch in your head, but different words come out of your mouth, that's okay. They don't know that. Nobody knows that. So there's no wrong way to present yourself. You just want to captivate the audience. And again, if there's not an organic connection and it and it ends at that little intro, so be it. Go on to the next one.

Vinita 12:50

Right. The word that that I'm thinking of as you're talking about this and and how to craft it is the word soundbite. Yes. And I'm thinking of that because there is this college counselor, um, Sarah Harbison, Harbison, and she has um, she has a book called The Soundbite, and it it helps students come up with, well, what is your soundbite? These admissions counselors they read and interview so many potential candidates that they're not gonna have time to listen to this diatribe of what you bring to the table. What is your soundbite? So can we make that parallel to an elevator pitch?

Kay 13:28

You know absolutely. And again, it's a soundbite that's engaging, that makes people like it piques their interest and they want to hear more. And then the conversation can unfold more organically, and then you're off the pitch. I mean, the pitch is really the door opener. Right. And it's to find the common ground. I know um, you know, when people have asked me about my elevator pitch, you know, I can talk about my corporate experience or my private practice experience. I can talk about the podcast that we're doing now, and I could talk about the future. What I really want to do is write and publish books. So that right there, someone might be interested in our content. So I'll stay in the present. Somebody might have a connection in editing or publishing or illustrating, and that might take the conversation to the future. And chances are the past is really mostly gonna be an opportunity to bond on something. You know, oh, we have this in common or we have that in common. So at least there's a bond there. But really, I think the conversation, the more forward um you can go with things, the more productive it's gonna be for both of you.

Vinita 14:37

So, what do you say to the young folks out there who you know grew up in the digital world? You know, who also, you know, their formative teenage years was really during COVID and a lot of things were done online and Zoom and whatnot. So, I mean, because we're talking about a skill. We're talking about a skill that can be taught. So, what do you say to the young people that you know um would are not as comfortable face to face?

Kay 15:08

I would find low barriers to entry where you can have these conversations. And it might be as simple as talking with your roommate, talking with your suite mates, talking with the people in your dorm, or talking with the people in your class. Maybe you walk into a class the first day and you don't know anybody. And so can you get the gumption to go up and introduce yourself and sit next to somebody and say, Hey, is this seat taken? And sit there, and then ask them where they're from, or what dorm are they in, or what are they studying, or how did they pick this class, or what have they heard about the professor? Find something to just connect and open the door. And then then you can organically start to share a little bit about your story or not. But I think just getting comfortable with that initial interaction is key for a lot of these um folks. And if they're going to join an organization, a lot of these organizations, some of them have these official rush or networking, they can't take everybody to, you know, that signs up that wants to be in it. So some of these, especially with in those situations, um, I think they're set up to favor the extroverts who are able to go and present themselves. And so I think that a lot of the introverts uh if they take inventory about what qualities they have, how can they then find a way to convey those? Right.

Vinita 16:28

And it's practice. And that's a good point because if you're an introvert, is it fair to say you're at a disadvantage or not really?

Kay 16:36

I don't know that's a disadvantage because honestly, a lot of the introverts, not all of them, but they're really good listeners. And so sometimes those really good listeners can pay attention and have and what they say when they say it is really important. Right. And and and part of it is there's a difference between you can be a very self-confident introvert and you can and a lack of self-confidence, it does not matter if which camp you're in, extrovert, introvert, anything. I mean, self-confidence is something completely different. And so I think part of it is getting comfortable with telling your story and feeling proud about what it is you're sharing or what it is you're asking for. I mean, it could be even asking for help. You know, that might be that your future, like I really need help with this, I really need a tutor in this, or I really need, and that's what you're looking for. So put it out there and let people help you solve that challenge if that's what it is.

Ruth 17:27

And I think that would also really help people communicate across generations. Something I think about in terms of young people entering the job market is just what we're talking about. They're kind of growing up in this digital world and someone they're meeting, say at a networking event who's been in the workplace for 20, 30, 40, 50 years, might have really different expectations of that. Especially since now we're usually meeting people for the first time online, you know, if we're gonna if it's gonna be anything important.

Kay 17:51

Yeah. So you I mean you could you could end up walking into a room and go, oh, I've seen them before online. And so you may know their online persona, but you don't know their face-to-face persona. And they may be the same or they may not. I mean, I personally I know I cannot abolish social media, but I I do think that people are so carefully curated on social media that that does not necessarily reflect reality. Right. And you have an opportunity face to face to genuinely, authentically reflect who you are. And it it's your words, it's your tone, it's your posture, it's all of those things.

Vinita 18:30

Right. That's the other piece is body language.

Ruth 18:32

Yes, yeah. And I think honestly, that can make it extra terrifying, especially for younger people, because if you're presenting yourself on social media, you can use the filter, you can re-record, you can edit everything out. Um, but when it's just you, it's just you.

Kay 18:45

Right.

Ruth 18:46

It's live, live shots. Okay.

Kay 18:48

The other thing that's interesting is I've talked about sort of the history of the elevator pitch as you as we get current now. Um there are um trends saying that elevator pitches are even going online. And so, and we'll talk about that another time, but snapshots and how can you put yourself out there? And it and depending, it might be something that's carefully curated because it's online. But in some of these cases, you may have to do an elevator pitch cold in one take, you know, because if you were in a live interview, for example, you'd have to do it in one take. So there's there's a whole it's evolving. I mean, the same way I've taken the term elevator pitch and called it stairwell story and all these other things. Um, I I think, you know, a video vlog or video vignette or something could be, you know, kind of in the future, but I still believe the face-to-face interaction is a really powerful skill for people of all levels and all ages to be in the world. It's a life skill. It's really a life skill.

Vinita 19:48

Yeah, because that that I can I can't see that going away. And I do like the pers somewhat of the prescriptive nature of it, prescriptive nature of it. You know, your past, present, and future. That's a r I think that sounds like a good start.

Kay 20:02

Right. And I I guess, you know, in in summary, I would say be authentic with your elevator pitch. Uh, be confident, be present, you know, listen and know your audience. You know, be ready and practice and be succinct. You know, make it interesting so that they want to ask you more questions. You don't want to tell them everything about you. You want to and then have fun with it. Just have fun and and be natural. And if one doesn't go well, try again on somebody else.

Vinita 20:30

Right. Everything's a practice, right?

Kay 20:33

Absolutely.

Vinita 20:34

We're always getting better. Wonderful. Well, thank you. And on that note, everyone, go practice your Panera pitches or Starbucks story or stairwell stories. Right. Thanks. Thank you.

Ruth 20:45

Thanks for joining us. If today's conversation resonated with you, please share this episode with anyone who may need it and follow us at netcollective.org or wherever you get your podcasts so you won't miss what's next. We are Net Collective. Navigating everything together, one conversation at a time. Thanks for listening.