Formulas, "canned" approaches and advice from coaches aside, the best elevator pitch for you is the one that works, opens doors, raises eyebrows and gets the "right" people to ask, "and how do you do that?"  or even better, "can I buy it now?"

Crafting an elevator pitch – you only have about 7 seconds to grab a prospect's attention and appear being worthy of chatting – starts with being crystal clear about who you are, what you are offering and why it's important to the prospect NOW.  While this sounds obvious, each element is important and the failure of any element can mean, "oh, that's nice.  Glad we had a chance to meet. Goodbye."

Who Are You?  Most prospects really don't care.  It's what you can do FOR THEM that's important.  So what can you do?  

Get in touch with yourself.  What do you do that people pay for?  Can you communicate IT (what you do) really clearly?  RAID, the insecticide, carries a clear message.  It's longtime slogan (elevator speech) is "RAID Kills Bugs, DEAD!"  Clear!  Strong benefit!

Look  and act the part.  I recently went to a convention of a vitamin supplement company.  The owner always appears in a lab coat.  Why?  Because the company wants to project an image of medical professionalism with products that can help you attain better health and relieve pain.  The lab coat works better than anything else.  Short!  Sweet!  To the point!

What's your McDonald's ® Hamburger.   People buy McDonald's® hamburgers because they find them to be consistent (no matter where you buy them), a good value for the money, filling – a safe and sure bet when you don't have time for another choice.  Whether it's making a hamburger or saving a company, knowing what you are offering and how it fulfills your customers' wants is key to your success.  Powerful!  Persuasive.. 

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1 comments on this article:

Posted on February 22, 2006 4:58 pm by Dorothy Lynn

Nice article, John. This so-called elevator speech is really tough to come up with for most people. The ones I've heard tend to sound too corny, canned or contrived. I like your suggestions and also suggest brainstorming with a few folks who know what your company really does for cients and customers. Brainstorming's fun and sometimes gets great results.

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