Marketing Made Easy – Your “Elevator Pitch”

OK we’re not in the US but the term they use over there for a concise, carefully planned, and well-practiced description about your business that a 12 year old (I have one which is useful!) should be able to understand delivered in the time it would take to ride up or down a lift is a good one.

An elevator pitch is something all of us in business should use and memorise so that’s it easy to trot out. It’s halfway between your opening selling one-liner e.g. a good opening question that can’t cause offence such as “do you have a good accountant?” and your sales script where you go into detail about your products and services.

It should cover:

1. Who you are
2. A very brief description of what you do
3. Who your market is
4. What your USP (Unique Selling Point) or competitive advantage is
5. How you do what you do to provide credibility
6. A counter to the biggest objection prospects come up with e.g. cost

Whew, I can hear you saying, all that in a few short words – that sounds tough? Well yes but as they say, if you’re going to do something you may as well do it properly so here are some pointers:

1. Keep it as short as possible. Ever been to a business speed dating event? Enough said?
2. Practice until you’re word perfect, timing yourself
3. Don’t use jargon or technical terms
4. Have a hook or a call to action
5. Keep this updated frequently
6. Spend more time listening than talking as the person you’re talking to will be feel a lot better about you if they’ve told you all about them!