Elevate Your Pitch: 4 Techniques from Vanessa Van Edwards

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An elevator pitch is like a first impression for your business; when you give it, you want people to like your business and feel confident about it.

To do that, you need a pitch that draws in your listener and strikes the right balance of being concise, clear, and emotionally engaging. It is a lot of pressure to put on a couple short sentences and your delivery makes all the difference.

When Vanessa Van Edwards taught The Power of Body Language, she talked about how delivery can entice or alienate your listener. She also emphasized the importance of sounding genuine and unique, “we feel patronized when we don’t feel like someone is engaged with us, when we feel like they’ve given us a memorized pitch.”

To deliver that authentic and inspiring pitch, Vanessa had four techniques anyone can put into practice:

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Use a low voice tone. Speaking in the low range of your natural voice tone is an easy way to communicate confidence.

Avoid the question inflection. “If you use the question inflection, you are literally saying ‘I am not sure if I believe this either,’” Vanessa explained. And the last thing you want to do in an elevator pitch is communicate doubt.

Use vocal variance. Changes in our pace, cadence, and tempo keeps listeners engaged. Vanessa encourages you to think about it like this: “Our brains are hungry toddlers; they are very demanding and they like lots of attention.” By switching things up you keep that antsy ‘toddler’ on their toes.

Incorporate emotionality. “This is where that authenticity comes in.” Emotionality is used to express your passion for your business. Don’t hesitate to reveal your excitement and let people know you really dig what you do.

If you want to make sure you are delivering your best possible pitch, take some more of Vanessa’s advice, “read through your elevator pitch at least ten different ways…that will get you in the habit of saying different words with different emphasis and that will add warmth to your elevator pitch.”

Want to learn more about making a memorable first impression? Check out The Power of Body Language and the video below:

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Rachel is the content marketing lead for the CreativeLive Craft Channel. Her side hustle is floral design and her day job is awesome. @ms_gregarious.