Description
- A metaphor for a brief, engaging description of your product or service
- Literally what you would say if you ran into the President in an elevator
- Or at a conference when networking
Example
Here’s an example elevator pitch. Please critique it:
“Let’s face it. Parking can be a real nightmare. It can be infuriating to find, extremely pricey and by the time you find that spot you would have lost time, petrol, and caused a lot of unnecessary traffic and pollution. Well, there’s an answer, parkatmyhouse.com. We are an awesome little company, backed by an awesome big company called BMW. Now, listen in: You can reserve parking in a private property and save up to 70%. Need to park at a sports match or local station? Sorted. … Just go to parkatmyhouse.com and simply type in where you want to park and what dates. It is that simple.”
Tips for elevator pitches
- You should have it at the tip of your toungue so when you run into the president you can answer the question: “So, what’s your business do?” in a clear, interesting, catchy, provocative manner.
- Purpose of an elevator pitch is to sell you and your idea
- To get the listener to say, “hmm, let’s sit down so you can tell me more.”
- An elevator pitch is meant to be spoken or read to a potential investor or board member
- Put yourself in the listeners shoes, really! Imagine that they say, “So What?” in response to each of your lines
- If there’s a very obvious objection, respond to it right away.
- Hook them with the first words out of your mouth.
What to say
- Brief: About 30 seconds
- Persuasive: Get listener to say “tell me more!”
- Practice: So you’re always ready
- Audience: Responsive to your audience: is it a colleague, a possible job opportunity, are you trying to recruit someone?
- Listener context: Dont make assumptions about the listened
- Jargon: Avoid it
- Proof points: If you have them
Good examples
- “I work on nanotechnology to deliver medical therapies to targeted cells”
- “We are using the manufacturing techniques of the computer industry to make better vaccines”
Bad Examples
- “Our company’s core competency is building synergy between top consumer brands and their customers. We help these companies to upsell and cross-sell their products while delighting their customers with new products.”
References and Links