First, let me say that there really isn’t one standard elevator speech BUT with practice you’ll quickly start tailoring your comments to the situation and questions. No one does it perfect every time [me included] and I rarely say the same thing twice.
So, I’d like to introduce myself to show you what a possible elevator speech could be. Then it will come down to choosing what feels comfortable to you.
Scene: A Chamber Mixer where everyone is Meetin’ n Greetin’
Take One
Action!
Ruth: Hello, I’m Ruth Martin of Maplewood Virtual Assistance.
Andrew: Hello, I’m Andrew of Southmark Management. What does your business do? A ‘virtual’ what?
Ruth: I turn office headaches and paperwork frustrations into a thing of the past for small and medium size businesses without ever stepping foot in a business office.
Andrew: Really? How do you do that?
Ruth: Clients delegate their time-consuming projects to me. Then I work from my home-based office, using my own equipment and software, to process their work. The finished work is returned via email, fax, or by courier to the client. I can do any administrative office task in this way except bring you coffee. {chuckle, chuckle} But, if that’s necessary I’m sure I could arrange to have a delivery service do that, too. I’d love to learn more about your business and talk with you about delegating your non-revenue generating tasks. The kind that just seem to eat away the time in your day. You should take advantage of my free consultation to analyze your needs. I could give you a call on Wednesday? Which time would suit you best, 10am or 1:30pm?
Andrew: 10am would be great. I can’t believe that you can really do work without stepping into my office.
Ruth: Many things can be done virtually quite successfully. We’ll talk about all of the possibilities. {Hand Andrew a business card with the appointment time written on the back.} Until then, why not make a list of what you’d like to delegate off your to-do list and then we’ll go over your list. It’s been great meeting you and I’m looking forward to learning more about your business on Wednesday. {hand shake … curtain closes}
Sometimes, just hearing someone’s elevator speech is enough to know that you can do it, too. With a bit of practice you’ll find that you’re networking everywhere you go.