Land the gig: The elevator pitch

You have one opportunity and one opportunity only to make this pitch.

No, you're not a professional baseball player (if you were you'd already be making a lot more money). You're in an elevator with the head honcho, the one who you never have the chance to speak one-on-one with, and you want to sell him or her on your new idea.

To make the most of your meeting, have confidence, a clear direction -- and the data to back you up.

Don't be nervous, read notes or be vague. On the flip side, overconfidence and overstating goals and numbers can also have a negative effect.

Click through for some helpful tips:

Something like "Uber meets Yelp for the Snapchat generation" may seem enticing to you, but your boss will likely want to hear something with more detail along the lines of "Transferring photos between devices is a complicated process, but with this app, you can do it with a touch of a button, via bluetooth."

Get to the point early on, identify a problem and propose your solution. Know your stuff -- your target market and

Rather than saying, "Anyone who's anyone will want this app," try something like "We're targeting smartphone users with more than one device, in urban areas, ages 18 to 34."

Once you get to your floor, be sure to say thanks and set up a follow-up meeting to really get your idea off the ground.

Now learn how to deal with difficult co-workers:

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