What is a great elevator pitch?
It is a short statement you make about your business, that capture’s the questioner’s attention, raises their interest, and helps them see you as someone they want to know more about, so they can use you or recommend you. Your pitch, therefore, must engage, intrigue and perhaps even inspire. Your questioner must see you as different, special — and valuable.
To achieve that goal in a few seconds means you must know:
What business are you really in? How you benefit your customers? Why the benefits you provide are exceptional, if not unique?
The great elevator pitch formula
When you know what business you are in, and how you benefit your customers and clients you can put that it into a simple three-step formula.
Step 1: Ask a rhetorical question that focuses on the problems your marketplace faces, and that you fix. A question will engage their mind, automatically, so they pay attention.
Step 2: Follow with a simple statement such as, What I do is to . . .
Step 3: Focus totally on special or unique values that clearly state how your customers or clients benefit in ways your listener probably won’t have thought of
Elevator pitch examples
“Do you know that most home sellers get less than they deserve? I am a Realtor who markets homes and negotiates contracts, so my clients get the highest price and the best terms possible. I also do it in their preferred timescale, and with the absolute minimum hassle.”
“Do you know how much food/raw material/merchandise finishes up on the factory floor? I make packaging products that optimize my customer’s production processes, so they minimize their costs, get more product out the door, and maximize their profits.”
“Do you know that most accident victims get short-changed by their insurance company? I use the law to make sure my clients get absolutely everything they deserve and need, not just straight after the accident, but forever.”
The take-away
A great elevator pitch generates business. Know these principles, follow the three steps, memorize your pitch and practice it to make it perfect.
Rhett Power is the co-founder of Wild Creations and the author of “The Entrepreneurs Book of Actions.”