IBM’s Joe Cubba recently shared his expertise on the essentials of personal networking and the importance of a successful elevator pitch with WashingtonExec’s Rising Stars group.
Cubba, the Federal Sales and Growth Leader of Global Business Services for the U.S. Federal Team at IBM, began the program by explaining the key aspects of targeted networking: Selecting your target, Preparing for contact and Executing.
In order to succeed with this method of networking, an important tool is one’s elevator pitch. Cubba emphasized how the elevator pitch can serve as a powerful selling tool in any situation, such as a meeting, networking event, interview or any type of social setting.
Cubba encouraged the group to practice their elevator pitch and several members of the Rising Stars group had the opportunity to share their pitch for feedback.
One of the brave participants was Lisa Mundt, Marketing and Proposal Specialist at AOC Key Solutions, Inc. (KSI).
“My favorite thing I learned from Joe is that we should essentially remove the word ‘hope’ from our vocabulary,” Mundt said. “As a proposal manager, I’m constantly demanding active over passive voice, yet I hadn’t taken heed of this advice in my own verbal/written interactions. I feel like Milllenials can be so wary with the way we use language that we end up missing out on opportunities to enact calls-to-action. When you’re passive it’s easier to say, ‘I hope to see you soon,’ than it is to say, ‘Let’s set up an appointment to discuss this further.’ I constantly fall victim to this colloquial passivity, but this presentation armed me with the tools to work on changing this behavior”.
By the end of the night, the Rising Stars group learned the fundamentals of networking and the necessary requirements to present a compelling and credible elevator pitch.
The WashingtonExec Rising Stars of GovCon Group is a unique mix of young professionals who meet six times a year to build their professional network and gain knowledge on how to become more involved in the industry; it’s a mini-MBA program without the case studies. Altamira’s Jonathan Moneymaker serves as chairman of the group.
Related: WashingtonExec’s Rising Stars of GovCon Hear from Executive Coach, Author Alan Berson
