Simplifying the Elevator Pitch

Welcome to podcast, I'm happy you're here. Today we are going to talk elevator pitches, everybody's favorite part of business, right? If I had $1 or an hour, for every time somebody said to me, Well, I've got to get this elevator pitch thing worked out. And for all of the time that we spent, maybe if I had like $50, for every hour of brain power, we have collectively spent on elevator pitches, I would be very, very rich woman. 

So today, what we're going to do is we're going to talk about how to simplify the monster that is elevator pitches. If this is something you are constantly thinking about, or thinking about how to introduce yourself, how to get it right, how to give your 32nd commercial, what you should say how it should sound, if it's something you're trying and trying and trying to constantly figure out, and it never feels like it's quite right and quite clear, this episode is really for you. Because we're gonna simplify this, we're gonna make it simple, we're gonna make it easy, we're gonna make it so you don't have to think about it all the freaking time anymore. Like, let's let us I almost named this episode killing the elevator pitch. Because in some ways, that's kind of what I want to do. But really, we all need a way to introduce ourselves. And we go to networking, when we meet new people to do all that kind of stuff introduction is required. But it doesn't have to be as stressful as we make it.

So before I do that, this episode is launching in February, I am super happy to be able to invite you to selling by giving at this point. And the sign by giving implementation lab if you are someone and what you think about sales is that it feels icky. And you don't want to do it. And also you want to have a business. If selling feels complicated, if really what you just want to do is help the people for the love of God and the sales part of it is getting in your way, selling by giving the class that I'm running starting in March really is meant for you, what we are going to do is we are going to take the complexity out of selling, we are going to take the heck out of it, we are going to make it much clearer and simpler, but also easier to make yours. And then we're going to make it feel like you know we're going to reimagine, you know how I think that selling is very different than most people and we're going to talk about your process we're going to straight now, why it feels so bad right now and give you something that you're gonna like a lot better and is going to let you effectively sell because in without you having to feel salesy about it all the time. 

So if you want to join, selling by giving, please please come there are 20 seats, they will go fast. I'm so excited. There are also scholarship applications open at the moment. So you can find all of the details about selling by giving and the scholarship application and all of those things by going to Torpey coaching.com. Forward slash workshops. And all of the details are in there. You should join us. I'm so excited about it. It's going to be 15 weeks live class, but mostly asynchronous. Gonna be amazing. I'm super excited. So let us jump in to all things. elevator pitches. So here's the thing about elevator pitches. It is there are if you go to Amazon, you type in elevator pitch, there's 1000s of books on this. There's so much noise in the business world. Excuse me, I keep getting hiccups about doing your elevator pitch and getting it right and how to do it and how you should structure it. There's a million ways to do this. And you have been at networking events where people say it like they're robots right where they're like Hi, my name is Sara Torpey and I am your whatever and bla bla bla bla bla and again, I'm Sara Torpey. It whatever and they repeat it it's a very mechanical process. That's fine for me that has always felt very salesy and very uncomfortable. So I have never been able to get it down like that. And yet, I still have a really effective business.

 I have clients that are very effective businesses network like crazy, we get a lot of business out of networking and also don't have perfect elevator pitches. So here are the things instead of the way you are thinking about an elevator pitch now I would propose five things maybe six number one everybody is trying to get the right elevator pitch like we have this thought that if you just say it right the people will hear that is the first thing you have to let go of six there are no six perfect words. I would love to tell you there are if you just say it right, the people will get it. You know, here's the thing. I have had cases where I thought I sounded like a complete moron. But I gave my pitch where I like wrote myself a note and was like how that was done. way to introduce myself ever, where somebody came up to me after and they were like, I totally need you. And I have had instances where I was like, Yes, I nailed it. And everybody was like, What is she talking about? So here's the thing, we have to stop expecting perfect, we have to stop thinking there's a version of it, that it's right. And know that it is going to resonate with somebody every time we say it from our hearts. So the thing about this is if you let go of it being perfect and down, and like really like down pat, what's going to happen as the natural outgrowth of that is, it's going to be different from event to event. There's nothing wrong with that. Yes, some people will come and they'll say exactly the same time thing every time, they'll introduce themselves the same way. 

I honestly, if you told me to go out and introduce myself to 50 people at the grocery store today in my business, I wouldn't say the same way twice. And that's okay, we can let go of the idea that the words have to be right, and that there's a right order for them, that's going to make something magical happen, and that it needs to be the same all the time. So that is the first thing to let go of, instead allow it to be fluid and different. So here's the thing, one of the ways to do this. And one of the things that I do pretty regularly, honestly, and I have clients do all the time it's helped so much is you get your notebook in a pen. And this is the second thing on my list. And you play what I think of as three ways to say it. So you're gonna write a list of all of the ways you might introduce yourself all the things you might say, you're not going to say, Hi, my name is Sarah, and you're not gonna write that down, you're gonna write down, I am a business coach for teachers, helper givers, and I help people simplify the complications of business. And then I'm going to write down, I help people. I shrink the octopus, that is the angry octopus, that is their business. I mean, I haven't really annoyed, say it. So and I've been practicing this a long time. 

So you're gonna write down in your notebook, challenge yourself to get to 30. Because what's gonna happen is you're gonna write 10, and you're gonna be like, All right, and you're gonna get to 15, you're gonna be like, there are no more ideas. They're gone, this is all there is. But if you keep pushing, if you keep trying, put it down and come back to it, you put it down and come back to it, that's okay, you can take a couple of tries. If you keep trying at it, you will get a list and there will be you know, five or 10 on that list that you're like, oh, yeah, that's really good, too. So write down all of the different ways that you have, even just making those ways known to yourself, like noticing them. And having them on paper will help you to feel more fluid and flexible in how you introduce yourself. But also, then you get to do this really amazing thing, you get to decide ahead, what you're going to introduce yourself as that day, imagine you're going to a networking event, or somewhere where you need this elevator pitch, you're gonna meet somebody new. 

What I do all the time is I go into my notebook and my list of like, 30 ways to introduce Sarah. And I take a sticky note. And I write down the things I tell people that I just can't believe I tell people that stuff, I write down the one from the list, I'm going to use that day and I stick it in my pocket, or I stick it in my car. And then when it's time, like a little before the meeting or afterwards, I like sneak a peek at my little poster for the day, and I put it back in my pocket. And that's what I use. Because then I can experiment with it, I have the list and I get to see which ones work better. But I might use it for three or four meetings in a row, or you know, a couple of different ways to settings where I'm introducing myself, and then I sort of, you know, write down a little bit of feedback for myself. I get to evaluate, it's like, Okay, this one people really didn't get, or this one people like nodded their heads and smiled and nothing, or this one had people asking me questions, right? So then you're kind of keeping track and you're not making it complicated. You're just like, oh, I have all these choices. Which ones do I like? You try them. You see what kind of feedback you get? It's great. It's simple. It's simple. It's simple. It doesn't have to be so hard and it can be like a sentence. I often use like a sentence or two when I introduce myself in networking, it is not, it doesn't need to be a whole thing. And you don't also need to explain all of the things you do. Your elevator pitch is not meant to encompass you as a whole human. 

We try to make it do too much. You can just talk about one part of your business. The part that the people in the room in front of you the person that's meeting with you might resonate with most and you know what you're guessing sometimes and that's okay, but pick it aspect and talk about it. The next thing is your job as a business owner introducing yourself is to stay in your lane. So like you're not going to talk about Things that you don't do, right? Like I for a while, I was like all over the place introducing myself because I'd be like, Oh, I work with newer business owners and established ones and teachers and people that don't teach and all kinds of businesses and it was like, What the hell did they even get from that? Nothing. So for you, you know, think about a couple of people you've helped think about five clients think about 10 sales. And it's like, Okay, talk about one of those, keep it in a lane. Keep it focused on, you know, one thing you do really well, two things you do really well. One person you love to help. One thing you love to do with people, you know, I always say you know, all you know, one of my favorite things to do with people is take a look at their systems, and help them take steps out that save them time. 

Another thing I say sometimes is I love to help business owners take a look at their pricing. And make sure the pricing that they're using really feels fair to both them and to the people they're serving, and really helps them earn the money they deserve. So like that is one part of many things that I consistently help people with. It's just one, it's in my lane. It is something I talk about a lot. It is something I love to do with people, but I don't need to explain it everything. So you're not trying to do everything for everyone in the sales pitch in the elevator pitch, you're just trying to give them a taste. And for me, thinking about it as giving people a taste of me. And what I do is so much simpler than thinking it's like my one chance to explain to them what I do and get them to notice me. Right? elevator pitches are hard, partly because of the pressure we put them under. 

We want them to be right. We want them to create clients, we want them to explain us really well. We want them to, like, encompass and encapsulate our business. It's not meant to do any of that. It's meant to be an introduction, that you introduce yourself to someone else or to a group. That's it. It is simply a way to tell them what you do one aspect of what you do, and let them get a feel for who you are. It doesn't need to be more than that. We don't need to make it so hard. The next thing on the list is, you know, here's the thing. Sometimes when people give their 32nd commercials or their elevator pitches, they feel kind of sailed me, often to me, it's like, well, this is what I do. And people like drop into a person that's not even them. It's like the person they feel like they have to be and we all feel like we have to like spiffy ourselves up and stand up straighter and polish ourselves differently in order to Cuban elevator pitch, which is crazy. Because that's not what we're going to be when those people come to work with us or buy from us. That's weird. So you can except, and this is one of the things that's been really instrumental for me that I don't have to be salesy about it. And that other people's will be different. I can accept that the way I'm going to approach an elevator pitch an introduction, a 32nd commercial is going to be different than the rest of the people in the room because I'm not comfortable doing it the way the rest of the people in the room are. So think about it this way, if you introduce yourself and you are uncomfortable, but it's just like everybody else, it feels weird to everybody else because you're uncomfortable.

 If you introduce yourself in a way that you are comfortable, that is different from the way everyone else is doing. Not only is it different and it stands out, but your comfort level stands out. And that is attraction. So you know, it's okay for it to be different. It is okay for you not to be salesy about it. It is okay for you to just say you're not a love helping people do this kind of thing. And move on the minute I realized I could just be very neat about it. And just be like, Oh, well, I help people. I make weird analogies about how I've helped people. I help people that are swimming behind the boat screaming for help get on the boat and be the driver. Like, is that a regular commercial? No. But does it work for me? Yeah, it's in our people like we watch. That's so different than the commercial and it? I don't have to do it like everybody else. Neither do you. Okay. And here's the last thing. You know, we want to get our elevator pitches right out of the gate. 

Like we sit around at home and practice and I am down with practice. I practice a stuff out loud. That's what I do when I drive around the car. Thank God we all have our phones connected to our cars now. And when I'm just talking randomly, my entire drive somewhere people can think I'm talking on my phone and I'm just talking to myself. Totally cool. But one of the things that happens with an elevator pitch or any sort of introduction is the more you do the kind of thing, the simpler and clearer and easier it gets. We want to make the elevator pitch the introductions 32nd. Commercial perfect before we've done it, because we put so much pressure on it, right? We've already talked about that. But the only way for it to improve or to feel easier for you to be able to simplify it for yourself is to do it. Yes, sometimes you're gonna sound like a moron, or at least you're gonna think you sound like one. 

Certainly it happens to me all the time, even still. And inevitably, the time I thought I sounded like a complete idiot is the time when people are like, Oh, my God, that was so helpful. Tell me more about what you do, of course. But the thing is, is like I am there now that I don't over work it like it's like bread dough that you made too much gluten in or like brownie batter, you stirred 500 times instead of 50. Like we can overwork it. And then it's chewy, right? It's like, Oh, what is that? That's that texture is off. But when we just let it unfold over time, and you're like, No, but I want it to work. Now. I get it. But there's no substitute for just doing in more introductions, meeting more people going to more events, saying more things, having it be wrong, and then adjusting? Which is where the whole process of like, how did this work for me today? How did I feel? How did it seem to go over and quick evaluations really is important. So for you, friend, let us take the pressure off the elevator pitch. Just say who you are. Say hi, my name is Sarah. And I love to help people with. And then the next time, say it differently. Write down what you said if you'd like to write down what you said ahead of time, and pick one. But remember that the best most attractive to other people thing that you can do is to simply allow yourself to be yourself and introduce yourself and what you love to do as you in what you love to do. 

We do not have to have it right right out of the gate. There is no perfect elevator pitch. There is no version of it that will just make everything work. There is simply just introducing and practice. That's all it is. All right. So if you want more of these kinds of things, please come to my Facebook group, it's got same name as the podcast. If you want to join us in selling by giving please we'd love to have you as a part of the group it's going to be amazing. And the price it is right now is only could exist once no lies. The more I build of it, the more I know it is worth every penny and probably 10 times as many pennies is good. And finally a quick favor if you enjoy this podcast. And it is something listen to and you've gotten use out of it. We'd love it if you would share it with a friend. Or if you would subscribe on whatever platform you listen on or if you would lose your view. This is how other people find me and the work we're doing together. And I would love to be able to expand that. So in the meantime, less stress on the elevator pitch Summit. I'll see you next time.