To be successful in any career path you choose, it is important to not only have ideas but to know to sell them as well. Half the battle is won when you have convinced your boss and colleagues about your idea. One technique you should try next time you want to sell an idea is 'elevator pitch'.
According to Wikipedia, "An elevator pitch, elevator speech or elevator statement is a short sales pitch; that is, a summary used to quickly and simply define a process, product, service, organization, or event and its value proposition. The name 'elevator pitch' reflects the idea that it should be possible to deliver the summary in the time span of an elevator ride, or approximately thirty seconds to two minutes and is widely credited to Ilene Rosenzweig and Michael Caruso (while he was editor for Vanity Fair) for its origin."
If your conversation in the elevator is good enough, it will continue later as well. Which means a conversation should not last longer than 60 seconds. You should learn to come up something so interesting that it strikes a chord immediately. And if you can't do it in that time, may be somewhere you have complicated the subject a little too much.
"An elevator pitch is meant to be short, and as the name implies, delivered in the time it takes to complete your average elevator ride. The length can vary, but you typically want to be able to present your elevator pitch comfortably without rushing in under two minutes, ideally in under one minute. Your goal length should be 150-250 words," says Alyssa Gregory , business expert and founder of the Small Business Bonfire, a small business blog and online community for entrepreneurs that provides small business help in the form of business tools, advice and free resources.
She also suggests seven effective steps to follow when using the elevator technique. She says, "Define who you are, describe what you do, identify your ideal clients, explain what's unique and different about the idea, state what you want to happen next, create an attention-getting hook and finally put it all together. Remember it should be really very short.
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