Welcome back to this review lesson of English for Marketing and Sales. In this module, we've been discussing making presentations, short conversational pitches, formalized scripts, and the consultative question and answer approach all require language that inspires interest. In this review, we'll analyze how your language choices can inspire interest so that you can apply it in your own sales pitches. We're going to begin with an elevator pitch that I prepared for you. As I deliver my pitch, I want you to listen for specific things. You may want to have a pen and paper handy to take notes. As you're listening, listen for how I use language to draw you in, to grab your attention. For example, do I use rhetorical questions? Do I use nouns to indicate membership in a community? Do I tell a story? What about my speech patterns and body language? Do I vary the speed? Do I seem confident and sincere? Am I concise and the point or do I talk too much? Okay, are you ready? [LAUGH] Well, let's start from the beginning. Hello, how are you? As you know, I'm Wanda Huber, your instructor and an International Educator with Arizona State University. Although I grew up with the idea that work is work, that it's not supposed to be fun, creating this course has proven that hard work can be great fun when you know you are creating something worthwhile. Do you think your time spent as a learner in this course has been worthwhile? Are you working hard and enjoying yourself? Well if you are, I hope you'll consider signing up for this Capstone course. In this course, you will be a real marketer of your own innovative product. You'll build a network of professional friends all while working and having fun. It will be a memorable learning experience, I promise. I hope you'll seriously consider being a part of our dynamic Capstone community, where learning means living well. Send me an email if you have any questions. It's a real honor to support your educational goals. [LAUGH] So let's begin to analyze the success of my pitch. What was my goal? Did you understand that my goal was to get you excited about the Capstone course? Do you think my pitch was effective at inspiring interest in this course? I sincerely hope it was. If you don't think I was effective, try to think of other strategies that may have worked. Even though I only spoke for about a minute, did I tell you a story? Yeah, I did. I told you about believing hard work isn't supposed to be fun. But that it was really fun working for you on this course. In my opinion, being able to tell little quick stories or anecdotes is the most engaging thing you can do. What stories do you have? It helps to keep a few versatile ones ready to go. Think of them like your secret weapon, so let's continue. Did I engage you with a question? What questions did I ask you, and why did I ask them? Well let's take a look. I asked you, do you think your time spent as a learner has been worthwhile? Are you working hard and enjoying yourself? My goals with these questions was to involve you in the conversation. Remember, one technique to get your audience to pay more attention is to ask rhetorical questions. This question served another purpose as well. I asked, do you think your time spent as a learner has been worthwhile? Noticed I said as a learner. I didn't say time spent learning, why? Because choosing nouns can cause you to recognize that you're part of our learning community. And we all want to be needed, it's a basic human need. Choosing nouns can influence interest by stimulating this need. Now, how do I sound? Did I vary my pace, slowing down at important points? For example, creating this course has proven that hard work can be fun. I hope you said, yes. How was my confidence? Did I speak with authority? How can you tell? Well, did I use the lower end of my voice? Or did I sound nervous at the higher end of my voice? Did my sentences end like a question? I hope you said that I sounded authoritative and confident, because I tried. What did you notice about my body language? Did my facial expressions make you feel that I was sincere? What about my hands, did I show my hands and use them to support my words? I'm asking you these questions because I want you to consider these things when you practice your elevator pitch. So here's a tough question. Do you think what I wrote could be quickly changed and used in another context? In other words, could I use part of it to give to a different audience? Well it is true that most of the content is directly related to you and this specific course. However, the anecdote or little story is versatile. I could use it again in a different context, couldn't I? Memorizing the basic parts of your elevator speech can be quickly repackaged for new networking opportunities and sales pitches. It will help you speak with clarity and not take too long. Taking too long to make your point is the kiss of death for sales pitches because it's sucks all the energy out of it. Now I could really use your help. I had a difficult time writing the closing. I wanted to look to the future and to end on a positive note. What do you think, did I achieve my goal? Can you think of a better close? Now, if you can, I invite you to email me with your idea, I'd love to see it. I hope this analysis of my pitch doesn't take away from the sincerity that I feel. Yes, I chose language that might influence you to take the Capstone course. Yes, I worked on my body language to make sure I looked trustworthy and confident. And yes, I made my sweet, sweet husband listen to me to make sure my pitch was not too long and that it sounded natural. Even though I planned all of this, I hope you believe me when I tell you that I sincerely think that you will really enjoy the hard work of the Capstone course. All this information you can apply to your peer review assignment. For your peer review assignment, you're going to write your elevator pitch. You have two choices. You can write a simple pitch that might be appropriate to say to put on your blog for potential employers or customers to see. Then you'll practice the pitch, record and upload it. Or your second choice, you can choose to do something that requires a little more effort, something really fun and creative. If you choose this creative option, you will write and act out a possible situation where you give your pitch. This option gives you the opportunity to show-off your ability to ask questions that build rapport and that lead to better understand a problem or situation so that you can pitch how you or your product or service could benefit that situation. So how does the creative option give you the chance to practice your ability to ask purposeful questions? Well, because you'll create a whole scenario, write a dialogue, and have a friend help you act it out, you're even going to have fun reviewing these videos. Don't you think? So, what are the key takeaways? Remember that opportunities to give your elevator speech aren't always planned. However, it's useful to prepare in advance for what might happen, to actually plan what could happen and what you might say. Understanding how to use language that builds interest and engages your audience will ensure that you make the most of all your opportunities. So as always, thank you for your hard work and positive energy in English for Marketing and Sales.
