What should you say in a 1 minute elevator pitch?

Recently I posted video about the importance of first impressions both in short networking introductions and in longer presentations. Today I’d like to focus in on the typical 1 minute introductions you get at a Networking group.

This is your chance to showcase your business and educate your fellow networkers on what you do so it is really important. I see that whilst some networkers take it seriously and prepare in advance. Others see it as a chore and tend to repeat the same tired old phrases week after week.

Let’s start by asking ourselves what is the outcome we desire from our pitch? Is it to “fill 60 seconds”? Is it to “talk about our business”, is it to “inform the audience?” – No! You want the audience to do something as a result of your introduction!
How about some of these outcomes?

Remember what you do!
Think of someone in their circle that is looking for your product or service right now and refer you to them!
Be curious enough about what you do to want to ask you some questions about it after the meeting.

That’s more like it. We are talking about getting clear about what we want the audience to do as a result of our mini presentation.

So once you are clear about the outcome, then and only then should you start to pull the content and structure together.

Look out for my next post which will address stage two in more details and give you some ideas to get you thinking.