NUGGET 28 – Sell Yourself In Less Than A Minute!

Hi! I am The Purpose Doctor, and my name is Ayobami Olugbenga-Wyse. I am a purpose-driven peak performance and career clarity coach. I help people map out their career paths with ease and to help them operate in the ideal career they are best built and designed for. Thanks for subscribing to my “Wyse Career Nuggets”, it’s my way to help you create a productive and highly rewarding career.

In the last career nugget, I shared tips on how potential employers can take you more seriously. Today, I will be highlighting how to create an amazing elevator speech that will make heads turn and elicit the right conversations, and engagement that you have always desired.

I learned about the elevator speech a while back, and it serves as my personal sales pitch anywhere I go. I remember vividly, going to an event some years back and we had to introduce ourselves and what we do at some point. I couldn’t wait for my turn as I generally looked forward to the opportunity to sell myself and make people know what I do. Before I had my opportunity, many before me had made generic introductions about themselves, things like, ‘My name is Ade and I work as a banker with ABC organization’, ‘my name is Chioma, and I am a front desk officer with XYZ organization’, or ‘my name is Danjuma, and I am a salesperson with XYZ organization. When it got to my turn, I rose with my head up, shoulders high, and brewed with so much confidence as I introduced myself.

I said to them, my name is Ayobami Olugbenga-Wyse, I take people home in style and make traffic feel like home for those stuck in Lagos traffic between 4 pm and 9 pm. Just like I expected, heads turned, attention was garnered, and I attracted eyes as people became inquisitive to know what exactly I do and how I claimed I did what I said I did. This wasn’t a perfectly drafted elevator speech, however, it did enough to gain attention and to make me attractive.

As career professionals, you must understand the fact that whenever you introduce yourself, people generally think of you and analyse you in their minds, in the least possible and demeaning form. When you make your introduction closed-ended, people draw up their most conclusive forms of what they think you are or can ever be. So, what more can anybody think of you or what really makes you different when you say you are an accountant, teacher, marketer, or any other profession you introduce yourself to be?

You must recognize that you are more than your occupation or your position my friend. You are more about the solutions you provide and the unique selling propositions that set you apart from others. There is really nothing special about your position or your occupation, hence introducing yourself by these parameters does not elicit conversations in any way to make people want to know more about you.

In Dan miller’s book, 48days to the work you love, he encouraged career professionals to have an “elevator speech”. His rationale about this is that in the 48 seconds it takes an elevator to go from one floor to the next, you should be able to clearly describe what is unique about you and what best describes what you do. Ask yourself, what solution do I genuinely bring to my organization or works space? What help do I render, How do I do it differently, and what do I help my organization achieve?

So rather than say your name is Danjuma, and I am a sales officer with XYZ company, what about saying ‘my name is Danjuma, they call me the ruthless executor, because I have helped XYZ organization meet and exceed their sales targets of 200 million Naira over the last 2yrs, through personally defined steps that guarantee me results, week in week out. Tell me, my friend, if people wouldn’t wait to exchange contacts with you and learn more about how you make it happen. A potential employer could be thinking about poaching you immediately with a bigger offer, and why not?

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