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ATD Blog

Ask the Career Coach: Your 30-Second Commercial

Wednesday, August 7, 2013
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New blog series: Ask the Career Coach

Each month we’ll pose a career-related question to one of ASTD’s Career Center Coaches. This month’s coach is Marshall Brown, PCC, Founder and CEO of Marshall Brown & Associates.

Q: People tell me I should have a strong elevator speech or a commercial. Why and what should it include?

A: Knowing how to articulate your value and your expertise in a short and concise way is immensely valuable to your networking and job search success…but to be effective, it has to be genuine and it has to have meaning. It’s not just a summary of you or your career. Here are a few tips:

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  1. Never memorize your 30-second commercial.  It should come out differently every time. Just know what you want to say, and practice talking about it in different ways. You should know what points you want to hit, but it should sound genuinely conversational, not rehearsed.
  2. Avoid sounding like your résumé. Writing and talking are different, and should be approached differently.
  3. Include strong “value” statements.   Instead of boring them with just a list of skills or experience, make certain you include strong “value” statements – something that cuts to the heart of what you help your employers achieve (i.e., the benefit from the work you do).  So instead of just saying “I’m a Controller with 22 years’ experience” you could say “My speciality is looking after a company’s most prized possession – their balance sheet. I look after the bottom line and help companies achieve more with the resources they have.” Then you can say “I’m a Controller with over 22 years’ experience…”

When you deliver your 30-second commercial, practice making it sound natural. This may take a bit of practice, but make certain you throw in the pauses, inflections, and little features that make conversational speech natural 

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TIP: Here’s a little exercise to practice sounding natural. Pick a topic you know LOTS about – it could be anything (cooking, gardening, football, art, whatever) – and start talking about it. Chances are you know what to say, you sound intelligent, AND you sound natural because it’s not rehearsed. You just know what to say. That’s the conversational tone you want to shoot for – natural and professional.

Have a career-related question you’d like answered?  Please send to [email protected].

About the Author

Marshall Brown is a career and executive coach with a passion for encouraging individuals and organizations to reach exceptional levels of performance. He is founder and CEO of Marshall Brown & Associates, an international coaching, training and leadership development company. Marshall is known for producing results, a critical strength in today’s world of work. A recognized expert and thought leader in the career and executive coaching fields, Marshall has been featured on ABC News, Fox News, and WUSA Channel 9 in Washington, DC. He has published articles in Associations Now magazine, Association Trends, CEO Update, Bottomline News Briefing, and he publishes a monthly e-newsletter, It’s All About You.

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