How do you tickle people's fancy if you were only given 30 seconds to do so? Wherever you are, may it be a job interview or a social event, quick persuasion of others to arrive at a conclusion that you're the most interesting person in this world is never an easy thing to do. "Most people can't present what they've done effectively. They're not used to giving sound bites of what they do," Paul McDonald, a senior executive director at staffing firm Robert Half, told Business Insider. Here is McDonald's guide to crafting the perfect elevator pitch:
1. Make sure you know exactly what you want to achieve
The perfect elevator pitch consists of three questions: Who are you? What do you do? What are you looking for? You need to be firm and sure about what you want to achieve or else, no one will be able to help you in that department. "Take your résumé and LinkedIn profile and go through it thoroughly," McDonald said. If in case you're unemployed, tell them where you want to go and what you want to do.
2. Bullet point the reasons that prove your greatness
McDonald said that after you've studied your LinkedIn or your work history, you should write down four bullet points that showcase your greatness. Leave out the irrelevant details, too.
3.Tell a good story
According to self-improvement guru Dale Carnegie, our minds are "associate machines" - which means we remember things easier when they are associated to something or told in a story. If you want to be memorable, tell a good story.
4. Avoid jargons
Eliminate the usage of words that would be difficult to understand or need a little bit of researching. McDonald said that dumbing down complex ideas is a real art.
5. Pitch it to your friends and ask them how you did
Practice can make things perfect, so to speak. Keep practicing and tweaking your pitch until you finally sound natural and convincing.
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