As a business owner or a start-up have you ever been encouraged to develop your ‘Elevator Pitch’? That short, succinct and persuasive sales pitch?
My response to this encouragement to develop a one-size-fits-all pitch has always been ‘NO’
Why?
How can one-size-fit-all? Surely what you say depends on where you are, who you are talking to and the context of what you are saying?
Different Elevators Require Different Elevator Pitches
You may be at a networking event, a conference a trade show or simply talking to a group of friends when that “What do you do?” question comes up.
Different people, different scenarios – different elevators.
You know who you are, you know what you sell. You should also know how you solve your customer’s problems and how they benefit from what you sell. So, depending on who you are talking to – networking colleagues, current or potential customers, suppliers etc. – you should be structuring your ‘pitch’ to meet their requirements and expectations.
The “What do you do?” conversation is an opportunity for you to ‘sell’ yourself. Your products and services are likely to come later.
Elevator Pitch Basics
Here are four Elevator Pitch elements you need to consider:
1.Be Yourself
Be friendly, welcoming and professional. Don’t launch into a description of your business; start with who you are before you move into what you sell.
2. Make Them Care
Even the best of humanity are tuned to radio WIIFM (What’s In It For Me?)
Therefore, people will love you if you recognise their problem and show them how you are the solution to that problem.
3.Leave Them Wanting More
Keep things short and sweet. Even the most interested person will glaze over after 20 minutes.
This is not the time or the place for a non-stop description of your business journey and how passionate you are about your products or services.
4. Have a Clear Call to Action
A Call to Action does not have to be a sale. In fact, in most ‘elevator pitch’ situations, it definitely is not!
The action you want people to take could be to follow you on Instagram, meet up for a coffee, listen to a podcast you know they will find helpful.
Your call to action should be something that starts to build a relationship that could, ultimately lead to a sale.
Take the Elevator (Pitch) to Business Success
So, if the next time you get in a lift you bump into Richard Branson, what are you going to say and how are you going to say it?
What if it’s not Richard Branson, but someone just as important – a potential customer or a business person you want to collaborate with – would what you have to say be different?
For success what you say has to be relevant to the person, the situation and the outcome you want to achieve. So, remember this … What you say should never be about you. It should always be about them.
Any thoughts? Pop them in the comments box below.