When someone loses their job or when their business fails, they can quickly fall out of their business networks and in the most part start to fall out of their social networks. When this happens, people start to spend more and more time at home and can often fall into a cycle which leads to social isolation, damaging their confidence, self esteem and self belief. This means that it can become much more difficult for people to get back out into the business community, looking for work or simply seeing if they can do something with their own skills to find some work to pay the bills.
Part of our strategy at WIN is to ensure full member participation, working with each person to help build each individual’s confidence and self esteem, and a first step towards this is the Elevator Pitch.
The Elevator Pitch or Speech refers to the pitch one would give to a potential customer or investor if lucky enough to get into an elevator with them and have their undivided attention. In other words, given two minutes with the right person what would you want to say? However we use this as an ice breaker at WIN so everyone can sell themselves i.e. their skills and experiences, or their business idea. We also ask everyone to tell us at the end of their pitch what they are looking for from the session. Some people are looking for contacts; others an opportunity to get ideas to help with looking for work, others look for support with their business idea. The possibilities are endless with a room full of supportive and enthusiastic people.
We regularly run workshops to help people develop their Elevator Pitch as we believe it is important to prepare a short pitch for the following reasons:
• It helps the individual develop and display their key skills
• Once the person has gone through this process they will become clear minded about their unique skills and experiences
• This ultimately builds the individuals’ confidence and this will be invaluable in their pursuit of re-establishing themselves in their social and career networks.
If your elevator pitch is simple and short, you are much more likely to use it when you get into a conversation with someone randomly, and you will dramatically improve your chances of getting meaningful results.
