Transcription
Hi, I'm Lauren Berger. This is my elevator pitch, take one.
Hi, I'm Lauren, and I want to do everything, and I want to be your best friend, and please hire me. Hi, I'm Lauren, and I really want to work for you, and I'm so excited to be sitting next to you right now, and I just want to tell you everything about me real quick. It'll only take me 10 minutes, even though we only have 30 seconds right now.
Hey everybody, those elevator pitches were not so good, and I'm gonna make sure that after watching this video, you know how to do a much better version of the elevator pitch. If the executive that you would love to work for, right, the executive that works at that company that you just loved, was literally in an elevator with you, what would you say? It's actually a great way to think about how to present yourself in a professional setting. So, I'm gonna give you the intern queen take on the elevator pitch.
So, in order to put together an elevator pitch, we need a couple pieces of information. We're gonna write them here. So, the first step is gonna be, who are you? Right, as silly as it sounds, you gotta say your name. You know, "I'm Lauren Berger. It's so nice to meet you." Right, you gotta say it. So, then you want to give them a little background. "I'm Lauren Berger. I graduated from UCF, and I'm a PR major." Okay, now depending on the situation, you might not be talking about college. If you meet someone years after college, you're probably going to talk about where you work right now. "I'm Lauren Berger. I'm the community manager at a website called Intern Queen."
And sometimes you need to give a little bit of extra contact. So, if you need to explain and provide context. So, if you go to a school that, let's be real, no one's heard of, or if you work for a company where somebody may have not heard of it. You know what those companies are, you know what those schools are. Make sure that you explain and you provide a little bit of context. You know, "I go to Southwestern University, which is located in Lakeland, Florida, and known for their PR program." And I'm gonna rely on you all to be the judge of if your story needs a little bit of context.
The next thing that you're gonna do is make the connection. A lot of times when people do an elevator pitch, they're literally just like talking and no one. And the reality is that whenever you're pitching, you're always talking to someone. Whether it's literally someone in an elevator standing next to you, whether you're pitching your business to Shark Tank, or you're just pitching it to a professor or a classroom. So, you want to make that connection factor right away. You know, what are you trying to accomplish? Why do you want the person next to you to listen? Maybe your PR major, and this is a big PR executive standing next to you. So, I'm connecting what I'm doing to what the person standing next to me does. You know, "I'd love for you to invest in my business because..." Right, you're connecting who you're talking to with what you're offering and what you're selling, which is sometimes yourself.
Then the last thing that you want to do, and this is what a lot of people don't cover in the elevator pitch, but you got to make the ask. Right, you got to make the ask. And this is the scary part because you're always putting yourself out there, and you could be rejected. So, I'm actually gonna give you both steps. I'm gonna say the ask, and then step six is gonna be the closeout.
A pet peeve that I have is a lot of students email me, and they ask me for advice, but they're very unclear as to what I can actually help them with. So, I'll get this big email with like, "I am this, this, this, this, this, this, this, and this. Thanks." And they sign their name. I don't know what to do with their email. So, oftentimes I write them back and say, "You know, hi Marysol, thanks for sharing. How can I help?" Because I honestly don't know what they want from me. So, I really encourage you to always think about the ask. For example, if you're in an elevator with someone and you want them to be your mentor, well, then let's ask them to be your mentor. If you're in the elevator with someone and you want to intern for them, let's ask for an internship. If you aren't sure what you want and you really just want to connect afterward and have a way to stay in touch, let's ask all that. So, I think you have to make the ask.
And then you have to be ready for the closeout. Because typically, you only have about 30 seconds, and you're gonna have to get out of there somehow, right? You want to always kill them with kindness, no matter what they say, and you want to close out in a very pleasant way. So, let's go through all the steps real quick.
So, who are you? "Hi, I'm Lauren Berger." A little bit of background. "I graduated UCF and I was a PR major." Provide context. "That's University of Central Florida, which is in the Orlando area." The connection. "I know all about your company. I've read all about it. I know about all your clients, and I am just such a fan." Right, I made the connection. Now, make the ask. "You know, I am looking for an internship for next summer. I would love to connect with you and find out how to apply and get to the top of your list." The closeout. "They say whatever they're gonna say. 'Thank you so much. I'll certainly stay in touch. I'll make sure to email you right after this. So nice meeting you.'" Right?
So, the who you are, the background, provide context, make the connection, make the ask, and the closeout. So, good luck everyone, and let's do that elevator pitch one more time.
"Hi, I'm Lauren Berger. So nice to meet you. I graduated from the University of Central Florida. That's in Orlando, and I was actually a PR major. I know all about your PR company, and I am just fascinated by it. I've read all about you. You know, I'd actually love to intern for you this summer. I've had a lot of other internships, and I wanted to ask who I could contact to potentially apply for an internship with your company."
"Amazing. Well, thank you so much. It was so great meeting you. I'm gonna email you tonight, and I definitely want to stay in touch. Thank you."