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el·e·va·tor pitch
noun informal
a succinct and persuasive sales pitch.
Origin
from the idea of having to impress a senior executive during a brief ride in an elevator.
The majority of elevator pitch statements that I hear are horrible. It’s not that they are always poorly written; they are just miserable in their own unique way.
Now, while I believe I am great at a lot of things, this is not one of my areas of expertise. So, I spent most of this morning researching all the components required to develop a great elevator speech. My review of what professional bloggers, expert journalists and professional guides have to offer on this topic has helped me to understand why so many elevator speeches are so poorly written. They are missing the most critical point. Here’s a somewhat consolidated list of what I found:
Your Elevator Pitch Must Be…
Concise- Powerful
- Leave the door open
- Visual
- Tell a story
- Targeted
- Goal oriented
- Contain a “hook”
- Tell about you
- Describe a problem
- Offer a solution
- Have a call to action
- Original
- Use understandable terms
- Ask a question
- Strong
- Authentic
- Interesting
- Conversational
- Make a connection
ConciseWhile I am sure your quick pitch statement should contain at least some of the elements in this compilation of various lists, I am even more sure that a perfectly crafted line will fall on deaf ears unless it is delivered with conviction. If YOU have a hard time buying into your elevator pitch, your listeners will too. If YOU aren’t passionate about what you are communicating, no one else will care either.
In summary, I will offer my non-expert marketing advice for writing and deliver an effective elevator pitch:
Write and speak what YOU truly believe to be wonderful and unique about YOUR offering.
6 Topics Every Investor Looks for in a Startup Pitch.
Matthew Cleek
Matthew Cleek is a serial entrepreneur and is a co-founder of FundingSage, which provides valuable information, tools and resources to entrepreneurs seeking to start, grow and fund a business. Matthew's business ventures include Intellithought, theEclassifieds, Spectrum20, Theme Spectrum and more.
