If an entrepreneur met an important person on the elevator, and only had the length of the ride to explain his business, what would he say? This is the concept behind the “elevator pitch.” Describe a business in one to four sentences, in a manner that would get someone interested.
Such a pitch requires focus, sharp targeting, and impactful words. In short, it requires thought.
An elevator pitch is not something to improvise on the spot; it’s something that must be planned.
What Are the Elements of an Elevator Pitch?
Several considerations play into the making of a successful short businesses description.
What is the core idea?
Some companies confuse potential customers by using descriptions such as, “We provide comprehensive solutions across multiple platforms.” Say what?
An elevator pitch requires plain language: “We create online ad campaigns.” Short, sweet, and accurate. A listener knows exactly what the business does.
Who is the customer?
A business must have a target audience. An entrepreneur would go broke trying to reach everybody. It is vital to know exactly who the main audience is and name that audience concisely.
“We create online ad campaigns for start-up tech companies who need greater reach in order to grow.” Now the pitch is expanding. A listener knows in one sentence what the company does and who it does it for.
What are the benefits?
The biggest mistake in a pitch is to focus on features — how the company does what it does. The listener needs to know the benefits. What’s in it for the customer? What does the business do that helps the customer get better, make more money, or save time?
To build on our example: “Our service doubles the number of people they can reach through advertising.” Notice that the sentence doesn’t explain how the servicer doubles the reach. That’s for the listener to ask. If the listener wants more information, the pitch has been successful.
Now the pitch has grown to: “We create online ad campaigns for start-up tech companies who need greater reach in order to grow. We double the number of potential customers they can reach through advertising."
Warm It Up
Some pitches are cold. They describe a business in an objective, technical way. It’s time for some “people” words. To find these, it’s important to ask, “How do people feel when they use the product or service?”
With a little reflection, it’s easy to find words that describe feelings and emotions. To add to our example, “Marketing managers love us because they are happy they can find more buyers to contact.”
So we have “love” and ‘“happy” in our pitch.
Now we know what the company does, who it does it for, and how it feels to use the service.
Tighten It Up
It is good, but it sounds a little clumsy. Let’s see if there are words we can take out.
Get rid of excess words
“We create online ad campaigns for start-up tech companies who need greater reach in order to grow. We double the number of potential customers they can reach through advertising. Marketing managers love us because they are happy they can find more buyers to contact.”
Those bolded words don’t add enough meaning for the space (and time) they take up.
Now it reads, “We create online ad campaigns for start-up tech companies. We double the number of customers they can reach. Marketing managers love us because they are happy they can find more buyers.”
Not bad.
Ask for What You Want
The purpose of a pitch is to get someone to do something. State succinctly what the pitch is asking for. “We are looking for partners to help us expand our service.” Bam. Time to pause and wait for a response.
In Conclusion
Create an elevator pitch by stating the core idea, naming the customer, spelling out the benefits to that customer, and keeping it warm. All in as few words as possible. Finally, ask for action.
Here is the entire pitch.
“We create online ad campaigns for start-up tech companies. We double the number of customers they can reach. Marketing managers love us because they are happy they can find more buyers.”
“We are looking for partners to help us expand our service.”
