The third step in coming up with a great elevator pitch – after you’ve considered WHO you are talking to and WHAT the main story beats are – is to think about injecting some personality. A great way to do this in a professional context is to consider areas you are genuinely (at least somewhat) passionate about – the “why” behind what you do, either as an individual, or as a representative of your company.
Enhancing your introduction in this way will not only make you more memorable (as humans, we connect with emotions rather than facts) but make it even clearer how much value you add – where your strengths and ideals align with those of the listener.
Your “Why”: Bring in your passions and values to make an impact
Simon Sinek has famously asked us to “start with why” – his point being that customers buy WHY a business does something, not WHAT we do. It’s the same with people: we are a lot more inspiring, trustworthy and likeable when we can explain more than just the functional, factual elements of what we do and how we do it.
Consider:
“When I left university I fell into marketing, which led to me going from marketing manager at a small company to leading marketing at BigCo. We doubled the pipeline in 2024, and managed to get our cost per lead down by 40% at the same time, so I won the Best Employee prize this year.”
It’s pretty strong! And may your results always be this easy to brag about. But what about…
“When I left university I realised I loved making complicated things more simple – whether that was stories about technical products, or unwieldy processes. That led me into marketing. I went from marketing manager at a small company, where I streamlined a lot of the systems in use, to leading marketing at BigCo. I was drawn to the mission at BigCo – it was all about customer focus, which I just think is so important. The team I led doubled the pipeline in 2024, and managed to get our cost per lead down by 40% at the same time. I even won the Best Employee prize – and in April I was asked to give a speech at my boss’s wedding.”
OK, there’s a lot going on in there, but you see my point: the human touches make it memorable, and the “why I care” stuff brings the rest of it to life. This isn’t just someone who sometimes nails the brief by sheer coincidence.
The interesting fact about your boss’s wedding – and maybe some more personal touches, like where you grew up or a hobby you love – will allow someone to easily make a mental note of who you are.
Next time you are preparing for a big pitch, meeting, networking event, job interview or important work conversation – you think you will need a slick introduction – think about the who, what and why.
After that, you might then add in the how: practicing your delivery to make sure the length, rhythm, and tone are sending the right signals, your body language and face are doing what you hoped, and you don’t trip over yourself when you’re speaking.
And, if you need somewhere to practice in a fun way, we might be able to help. Get in touch!