Often it’s called an “elevator pitch.” That brief moment you are
caught off guard with the opportunity to inform someone about your everyday
work and inspire them to believe it matters.Often it’s not in an elevator—it’s at a conference, in a workshop, even on the bus during your morning commute—but it’s always a worthwhile opportunity, and it’s never long enough.
It’s easy to spend thirty minutes discussing the great work your organization is doing—the numerous programs you run, the first-hand experiences of beneficiaries, and the evaluations you do to prove results. The hard part is saying it before your new contact’s bus stop.
With that challenge in mind, here are five things to think about before your next chance encounter with a potential volunteer, donor, or mentor.
1. Know what makes you different:
The goal of a
brief pitch is not to fully explain your work, it is to get the listener
curious enough to want to find out more. The easiest way to interest someone is
to demonstrate how you are different. Do you run the only suicide prevention
network in your country? Do you use an innovative technique to teach autistic
children to read? After introducing
yourself, this unique claim should be your first
sentence.
2. Save the details for later:
It is important to spend a sentence or two describing the
context of the issue you address and the basic strategy of your program, but
don’t delve too deeply into the intricacies of how your project is implemented.
A listener doesn’t need to fully understand how
your model works; they just need to be convinced that it does.
3. Skip the jargon:
You
may think that using jargon or abstract terms make you sound like an authority
on your topic. However, if a listener does not understand a term, they may feel
distanced and unable to contribute to the work you are doing. Use simple terms.
Save the jargon for longer conversations with an audience you better
understand.
4. Make it fast, but say it slow:
It doesn’t make a good first impression to rush through
lines of rehearsed content about your project. You will appear nervous and your
listener will feel anxious. Instead, take your time and speak with confidence,
as if you know your listener will be so enthralled that you will have another
opportunity to share more later. Show
your enthusiasm, maintain eye contact, and allow your listener space to speak
without having to interrupt you.
5. Don’t forget the ask:
After three
minutes of talking, hopefully you have impressed and intrigued your listener.
Don’t let it end there! Depending on the listener, you will want to ask for
something: Can I call you this week to
further discuss this? Could you
recommend us to your friends who like volunteering? Can I get your email to
include you on our upcoming newsletter? Can I invite you to come meet our
students and see our project in person?
The worst they can say is “no,” and that’s even harder to do while
standing face to face.
Practice now! The moment you overhear
the woman next to you at a restaurant mention that she works with your dream
donor is not an ideal time to begin synthesizing your entire program and
passion into five sentences.
In the time it took you to read this, you should be able to introduce
yourself, explain what you do and why it matters, and have your business card
in the hand of someone eager to call you back. It takes practice, but the
possibilities for new connections you can make are just about as endless as the
places your “elevator pitch” could happen.
