Description: What Happened?
During week 3 I was introduced to elevator pitching.
An elevator pitch is a short method used to make an introduction, deliver a point and network (Princeton University, 2023).
I was able to apply this skill in practice by using my formulated message that I practised in seminar time to contact Trend Forecasters on LinkedIn. The pitch was successful as I obtained an interviewee for my research report.
Feelings: What were you thinking and feeling?
I found that learning about how to create an elevator pitch helped reduce my anxieties around the task of finding an interviewee. I felt confident in my pitch after receiving guidance during the seminar, it was as if a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. I think that this tool proved to be a helpful, lifelong competency.
Evaluation: What was good and bad about the experience?
Elevator pitching over LinkedIn has been simultaneously both an enabling and discouraging experience. Learning a formula message to generate a pitch in the seminar has given me more confidence in successfully asking for what I want.
Despite receiving one successful response, it became discouraging when my pitch was ignored.
This negatively affected my confidence, in not only negotiating, but networking too.
Analysis: What sense can you make of the situation?
My experience with elevator pitching could be a result of its virtuality. The situation lacked the face-to-face element which in turn affected the result. Pitching behind a screen helped me be more straightforward, timely and gave me more confidence with my first ever elevator pitch (Morrison, 2020). Nonetheless, this “cold pitching” made it easier for individuals to decline an interview behind a screen which could be a reason to why I had some cold responses (Chapman, 2021).
Conclusions: What could you have done differently?
The tool of elevator pitching demonstrates its usefulness as a successful negotiation tool. However, negative responses to the message demonstrate that different parties may have variable interpretations and reactions. I could have gotten third party opinions of my pitch to tweak the message to different perspectives accordingly.
Action Plan: How will you approach a similar situation in the future?
In future if I were to use an elevator pitch, I would review third party constructive criticism to improve my failure (Fong, et al., 2018, p.42). I plan on retesting my elevator pitch when applying for summer internships. Additionally, I could test my pitch face-to-face to remove the technological screen barrier and get more organic feedback.
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