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Looking for suggestions on how to write a good elevator pitch.
My new company hasn't even heard of one, and I've never created one from scratch. Please send me any tips. Thanks!
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12 Answers
The purpose of an elevator pitch is not to sell or summarize your business; it is to provide a memorable, meaningful introduction that will make the listener want to hear more and enable them to tell other people about you.
Don't make the mistake of trying to develop separate pitches for different audiences. In addition to being pithy, clear and engaging, the mark of a truly good elevator pitch is that the same pitch works equally well for all audiences - sales prospects, job candidates, analysts, journalists, family, and friends. You want it go viral and the way to make that happen is to turn everyone who hears into someone who can and will retain it and retell it to any other audience with equal effectiveness. You tell a friend and they find you a killer product developer they just happen to know at the gym. You tell an analyst and they tell five VCs at a conference. You tell a journalist and they tell five thousand sales prospects in their next column.
Also, if you are in an established or retentive business category ,in addition to saying who you are, what you do, how you do it, who you do it for, and why you are the best at doing it, say also who you aim to kill and how you aim to do that. "We are an X killer and our weapons are Y and Z". The purpose of doing this is not to make you come off as some kind of swaggering, "Art of War" quoting Larry Ellison clone. It is more practical than that. If the listener knows who X is, it is probably because X spent a lot of money educating the marketplace about the problems they solve and how they solve them. Saying that you are an "X killer" leverages X's marketing investment and lets you zoom past the ABCs right to your killer competitive advantage. Plus, journalists and analysts love a fight. Just be realistic - X should be a company you could actually kill if you are successful in your business - otherwise it will just sound like foolish bravado.
On the other hand, if you are in an emerging category or are a bleeding edge innovator, company X is unknown or non-existent. But, there is still an X to kill - limitation X, old way of doing things X, etc. Microsoft started a revolution with the simple elevator pitch, "Software for a computer on every desk and in every home." At that time, business people were at the mercy of IT departments with their mainframes, minicomputers and work backlogs, and "a computer on every desk" was a promise to free them from the X of dependence on IT. As for consumers, back then the idea of a home computer was the stuff of World's Fairs and science fiction stories, but there was still an X in the form of pencils, notebooks, manual arithmetic, board games, etc.
Finally, in all cases, remember a good elevator pitch should be a dialogue, not a broadcast. You want it to be succinct and brief, but you should still pause here and there to make sure the listener is following you and you are keeping their interest; and when you are finished, don't be afraid to ask if they found it interesting or how they think you could make it more interesting.
Good Luck!
Hi Elisa,
An “Elevator Pitch” is a short introductory speech designed to be given in the time span of an elevator ride – approximately 30 seconds to 2 minutes. It’s a standard tool in the world of sales, where people want to interest someone else in their product quickly, without sounding too pushy or intrusive. An effective Elevator Pitch should give your audience just enough information so that they will understand who you are and what you are looking for, and want to know more. Here are some key components
Keep it short!
Less is more as they say. Your ability to describe exactly what you do in one or two sentences says a lot about your introspection and professional focus. The entire speech should be no longer than 2 minutes – the accepted rule of thumb is between 30 seconds and 2 minutes. You might even consider having a couple of different versions of the speech – one complete version and another shorter, more abbreviated version for situations where your time is more limited. Either way, what you say in the first 15 seconds is the most important part. Any listener should know exactly what you do within the first sentence or two.
Keep it simple! Use language your grandmother would understand.
Your statement is answering what you are the best at (value), who you serve (audience) and how you do it uniquely (USP). Describe what you do, and what your target goals are in simple, everyday language. After saying your name, start with a simple statement of what you’ve done (job title, industry niche, etc.). Remember to be clear on the value!
Target your audience.
Whom are you aiming your services at? A particular industry, geography, age demographic? Try to stay somewhat focused on a sector of the market and don’t spread yourself too thin. The reason personal branding has become critical for business and career success is that nobody wants to buy from the person or company that does everything for everyone. Look at what target audience would benefit the most from your services and zero in on this.
Make it compelling and memorable.
Once you’ve established exactly what you do, and what you are looking for, you need to sell yourself. Talk about your successes. Highlight what you’ve done – your concrete accomplishments or skills, rather than intangible concepts. What differentiates you from others who do what you do? What is your specific area of expertise? Using technical or big words could alienate your target audience. You want a seven year-old to understand and be able to repeat what you do. Put yourself in the listener’s shoes and realize that most decision-makers are thinking of that famous marketing acronym: “WIIFM” (What’s in it for me?)
Stay authentic.
Never call yourself a guru, ninja, samurai, expert or even thought leader unless you truly are one. Only your audience can determine whether you are an expert and you will know if that is the case. The aim of your statement is to inform and inspire, not to scare them off with fancy titles.
Sound natural. Practice your delivery.
Nothing is worse than sounding like you are reading a script. By all means, write your speech down and memorize it … but then try practicing it out loud and ask yourself: Does this sound like my natural speaking voice? Are these words I use in everyday conversations? Could someone from outside of my industry who hears this easily figure out what I do?
By the way …
It’s often effective to repeat your name a second time at the end of the speech – especially when speaking in a more formal group situation. The reasoning is that people don’t remember names the first time they hear them, but after the speech is delivered, a second hearing of your name will be more likely to sink in.
Hope you will find this helpful.
Here are the basic steps I would recommend based on research we conducted on what the most successful firms tend to do;
Start by thinking about what is most important from potential customers point of view. A clear,easy to understand and remember pitch is usually much better than a rehearsed pitch filled with buzz words and jargon.A basic pitch should cover three key points.
1. Say what you do in plain language. eg "We are a software developer"
2. Say who you work for and a bit about what you do for them eg "We specialize in applications for the retail industry". Focus on your best target clients and services and avoid trying to cover all possibilities. People will not remember what you say or believe you.
3. Tell them why your clients choose you eg."Our clients tend to choose us because we develop very easy to use systems that require little training" Here you are putting emphasis on your competitive advantage.
Most common mistakes for an elevator pitch are rooted in trying to say too much. The easier it is to understand and remember the more people will remember it (I know this sounds like a "duh" statement but it is so frequent it seems like it needs emphasis).
Another common blunder is that you do not really have a clear target audience,competitive advantage or strategy. If that is true, no amount of jargon or hand waiving will cover up for it and your elevator pitch will sound like BS -because it is. Conversely,if you know your target,understand what you do very well, and understand your true competitive advantage you will have a great pitch just by simply and clearly saying it.
A basic pitch can of course be enhanced by giving a brief,easy to understand story or example. I've also heard other elements added like a metaphor or a clever dash of humor that helps create a mental picture eg."Are systems are so easy to use that even a CEO can do it". You get the picture.
Hope this helps. Good luck..lwf
Great counsel so far -- tips useful whether pitching a new venture to potential investors or a new IT investment to colleagues and senior management!
One additional recommendation. My alma mater M.I.T. has an annual elevator pitch contest -- if you search for "MIT elevator pitch contest" or some similar string, you'll find numerous videos offering guidance and examples of successful elevator pitches. Thanks for the great question, good luck, and please keep the Focus community apprised of your progress!
Tell what you do,
How you do it...
Give an example.
Example...
Mr Prospect, Ingenuity sales consulting does four things. We increase individuals and companies productivity, effectivness, efficiency and profitability.
He do this by working in collaboration to craft sales strategies that out pace competitors and transform their competitness.
As an example we helped a fortune 500 company grow 25% when wall street said they could only grow 4% to 14%. More importantly they became the fastest growing company in their industry and rocketed from a market position of number 4 to number 2 in less than one year.
See? Now you said something. Easy to articulate and easy for the prospect to follow and understand. I could go one for an hour on this subject, but I will leave it be for now.
Thanks!
Randy Aronis
CEO Ingenuity Sales Consulting
Wow thank you guys so much for all your feedback! I honestly wasn't expecting to get so many answers, but I definitely have a much clearer understanding of what I need to do now. Thanks again!
I've had great success with a simple tool I found at the Harvard Business School website. Everyone who has tried this "Elevator Pitch Builder" has raved about it. It crystalizes much of the advice from the previous posts into a simple but powerful multi-step exercise.
http://www.alumni.hbs.edu/careers/pitch/
A formula that is easy and effective is
When somebody asks you what you do your reply is..
"You know how...(Insert challenge) well what I do is (solve challenge).
The key is that it should be able to be said in under 30 seconds, and be interesting enough to want the person to ask How do you do that?
Courtney Kostelecky
Director of Marketing
MyFishnetMarketing.com
P.S. I do agree that copywriting skills come into play big time- that's why I have spent alot of my career learning effective direct copywriting skills.
Wow, some great advice here. I especially like the comments from Tim Negris.
You must fully understand your business to write a great elevator pitch, which is really the hard part. The trick is articulating your unique solution, the problem it solves, and why it's meaningful to the customer -- and doing all this briefly using drop-dead simple language and concepts.
Hi guys, I am a inside sales rep in the application and infrastructure hosting industry. here is a elevator pitch that i use quite often.
http://nitricoxidewarning.com/nitric-oxide-supplements-find-the-best-nitric-o...
University of Miami is sponsoring an elevator pitch contest next week (October 25-28) at multiple locations. This is very timely for us. Thanks!
Check out "The Sales Bible" by Gitomer. Fantastic chapter in there that will take you though it step by step. Its the best I have seen.
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