If you are currently looking for new customers or clients, it is important to cover all the bases. BeezContent deals primarily with online marketing strategies (although we have been known to give advice on how to take the game offline, too). Since we are, first and foremost, a custom writing service, we simply cannot forget or neglect conveying to you the relevance and importance of what you do offline to drum up new business, as well.
So, let’s forget about technology just for a minute. Let’s imagine that you are at a convention or riding the bus, or… imagine… in an elevator. Your sixth sense tells you that you should be trying to make a contact with the person nearest to you at the moment, but what do you say? The answer to that question is having a ready, well-planned elevator pitch at your disposal all the time.
What Is an Elevator Pitch?
The concept of an elevator pitch is simple: You have a worthy prospect as a captive audience but just for a very short period of time. How do you explain, promote, and sell the idea of doing business with you in a matter of 30 seconds to a minute?
In all fairness, this works the same way as any online marketing effort in that you have a finite amount of time to get the job done and get it done effectively. The problem is, without the online element, you have to work harder and faster. Here’s how…
Key Elements of Successful Elevator Pitches
I want to give you a brief list of things to consider when devising an elevator pitch, then provide you with a few tools that will help you incorporate them. Good elevator pitches all share the following attributes:
• They are clear and concise.
• They are short, powerful, and to the point.
• They help the prospect visualize the concepts you’re conveying.
• They tell a story (often your story).
• They have a specific goal.
• They provide a hook to capture and hold the prospect’s interest.
With all that in mind, the one most important question that I’m sure remains is, “How do you do this?” Sadly, I cannot give you any kind of template or suggest words to use in your specific case since everybody’s business offerings and goals are different. If one of my writers were tasked with writing a pitch for you, I would have to know quite a bit about your business and your product/service to make it legit. With that in mind, here are a few ways to optimize your pitch.
#1 – Start by writing down what you do.
This will help tremendously whether you are writing the pitch yourself or having someone else do it for you. Write it in a manner that you would use to explain it to your ideal avatar, but also write it out a few different ways, keeping in mind the type of prospect who will eventually hear it. This is not the pitch itself, per se, just foundational information that will help people understand and identify with you and what you actually do.
#2 – Write down all your goals and objectives for the conversation.
What do you hope to accomplish as a result of this conversation? Keep whatever action or conversion you have in mind in the forefront of your thoughts as you brainstorm.
#3 – Write down several action statements.
Visualize yourself asking for whatever it is you want the prospect to do: Give you his or her phone number or email, make an appointment, buy something… put yourself in the prospect’s place and ask yourself what approach would work best with a given personality type under a specific set of circumstances. Again, brainstorm. Don’t worry about it making sense or sounding perfect just yet.
#4 – Play to your strengths.
Keep the commentary in your pitch 100% positive. This is not the time to be humble or even terribly transparent. Get the prospect excited. Don’t leave room to examine pros and cons.
#5 – Read everything back to yourself.
You are sure to have a few, “What was I thinking?” moments during this process. This is a good thing. If anything doesn’t sound right or flow right (in other words, you don’t think it would seem natural or believable coming out of your mouth), trash it.
#6 – Start organizing the best bits.
Take the parts that get you excited and start building your pitch around them. If it’s too long (or too hard to remember), whittle the information down to the most important, key bullet points and drive the core of your message through them.
#7 – Read your pitch aloud.
Does what you’re saying sound like it’s coming from you, or does it sound and feel rehearsed? It may seem strange when one considers the next step, but stay with me. Even though this is a pre-prepared thing, you do not want it to sound overly scripted. Think conversation, not sales pitch.
#8 – Memorize your pitch.
Keep saying it over and over in your head like it’s second nature. A 60-second pitch is typically fewer than 200 words, so it really isn’t much to remember. How much is that? Look at numbers 1, 2, and 3 above. That’s almost exactly 200 words.
When you are comfortable, take your pitch for a test drive and see how well it’s received. You can always tweak, adjust, add, or omit the information in later drafts if needs be.
Final Takeaway
An elevator pitch is a powerful tool for real-world, real-time interactions with prospects. You want yours to be unique to your brand and to the way you deliver your product or service.
Remember that time is always working against you in the realm of marketing (online or offline), so you have to be clear, concise, confident, and immediately to the point. Take your time developing your pitch and don’t be afraid to collaborate with a writer who deals primarily in marketing copy if you feel like your pitch could use a little something extra.