Elevate My Mind
Going … Going …
In response to my recent topic struggle, Naomi kindly offered some suggestions.
Top of her list was: Elevator Pitch.
As someone who avoids cities, buildings, elevators, people, hands, eyes and conversations, I’m not the best possible ambassador for this important business tool.
This, however, creates a magnificent opportunity for you to step in.
Definition
Wikipedia’s (Empire-abridged) definition of elevator pitch is:
A summary used to quickly and simply define a product, service or organisation and its value proposition.
The name reflects the idea that it should be delivered in the span of an elevator ride (around 30-120 seconds).
Elevator pitches are used in venture capital applications, job interviews, professional service summaries and speed dating.
Pitch Black
I’ve never used an elevator pitch.
The closest I’ve got was doing the home page for my new website.
This was the hardest piece of writing I’ve ever done.
Here’s what I came up with (modified for elevator use):
My Pitch
Every communication builds or erodes your brand.
I’m the expert who can make all your communications perfect.
Perfect communications ensure your growth and prosperity by:
- Delivering your message,
- In the best possible way,
- So your audience does what you want.
By helping you reach the top of your field, my premium writing, editing and proofreading services pay for themselves many times over.
Ta da!
Actually, I don’t think that’d convince anyone.
Which is a shame, me being a copywriter and all.
The good news is, the only way is up!
Your Marvellous Opportunity
Why not give us your elevator pitch?
If you’re feeling cagey, remember this blog is promoted to thousands of small- to medium-sized enterprises.
That’s a lot of eyeballs on your stuff.
Batter Up!
Enter your pitch in the comment box below.
Press the button.
And watch your fortunes ascend!
…
…
…
DING!
Paul Hassing, Founder & Senior Writer, The Feisty Empire
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Great post Paul. Thanks!
I like your elevator pitch
The elevator pitch concept can even be transformed into the Twitter pitch in 140 characters. Doesn’t leave much room!
Thank you, Naomi. Your topic suggestions were beaut; I’m greatly looking forward to nailing the rest.
The great thing about this forum is that even if I know nothing of the topic, our wise readers can join the dots, colour it in, cut it out and stick it on the fridge!
I’m even secretly hoping we’ll see some speed-dating pitches. Who knows; we could see our first Small Business Owner blog romance!
Give your staff what no one else can give them, cheap fuel, free roadside and savings to manage the cost of their car. Cost of living going up? Not for your car.
Enough of the self promotion. My use of elevator pitches is telling friends what I do for a living, when sitting next to someone on a plane who asks what I do and when my GM or MD walks past and asks what I have been up to.
The last being the most regular and important.
Onya, MCB. I can hear a hundred Mont Blancs scratching as CEOs across the nation sign up!
Paul – yes, love the opinions, experiences and thoughts of our very wise readers. I learn something new every day!
A blog romance… Now that would be cute!
Hi Paul,
I agree, the home page is always a difficult piece of writing. Your *own* home page is the worst of all.
I’m a big fan of elevator pitches. For me, it’s this:
“I help organisations turn their marketing expense into business assets by developing original content to help them promote their business.”
That would be the pitch I use today if you caught up with me in an elevator. I change and refine it all the time so next week it might be different.
Hello all,
I like this topic.
Before I try a pitch I have a query.
Is the pitch supposed to be delivered as copy for the screen or paper or is it delivered verbally? I would think each would have a different tone to suit the medium?
Hi Jas,
The one I shared above is meant to be delivered verbally.
Cheers,
Sarah
Nice one, Sarah! I dig it the most.
Jas, you’re dead right; the tones would differ. While I’m happy to receive all pitches, I think that for the purpose of this exercise, a transcript of a verbal pitch would be ideal.
I’m particularly interested in your speed-dating pitch, if you have one!
I have no pitch, as I make a habit of not asking folk what they do, nor answering with a pitch in return. It’s got me where I am today. Looking forward to reading others’ pitches though!
Thank you, Ad. But what if someone at a cocktail party asked you to summarise http://www.writefish.com.au/ in 60 seconds? Would you simply jam a breadstick in their eye and storm off?
I can’t say I have a set elevator pitch as it depends on who I am talking to. The one thing I have noticed is because some take the 30 secs literally they tend to peak more quickly than they normally do.
To join in discussion I would say: I help small business package up their services that their customers desire to boost sales and profit throughout the year
Thank you, Susan. Seems like these pitches may not be as common as I thought. Could they be … ‘unorstraylian’?
Very happy to have your mock-up, but.
Ha ha Paul! I was intending to do a pitch for my band, and perhaps one for my new fitness venture, and maybe on for my IT business. I’ll have to have a think abou the speed dating one.
OK, for my IT business.
Jascinda Computing Solutions is a one stop IT shop for small and medium businesses. We can build and host your website, maintain or upgrade you PCs and servers, back up your vital data, provide you with onsite and telephone support, procure equipment, train your staff and help you make the best use of your IT assets to make your business more efficient and help it grow.
I found interesting that as I wrote this I started thinking that I wouldn’t really talk like this. So I guess if I was speaking to someone I would tailor it on the fly to suit the person I was talking to, the environment we were in, the circumstances, etc.
Thanks heaps, Jas. And now give us one for the band! And the fitness biz. We want them ALL!
I’m always banging on about reading one’s stuff aloud to perfect cadence. This is proving an interesting exercise in the reverse!
Hi Paul
There is an amazing SHAREWORDS community at http://www.radsmarts.com/2010/05/sharewords-the-easiest-way-for-us-to-recommend-you/
Here we assist business people to craft their Sharewords (elevator pitch) Led by amazing facilitator Robin Dickinson we crowdstorm for people looking to find their perfect sharewords – the community has had amazing success and many who have had their sharewords crafted use them in all forms of marketing and promotion
Cheers
Leanne
Maximising Your Business Profits
What a great find, Leanne. Ta muchly!
Thanks for sharing the link Leanne – I will be checking it out!
Der, I would certainly not use a breadstick.
Hmmm, in 60 seconds (or fewer) I’d say ‘I can write and edit anything you like’. It’s to my discredit that I have no pitch. I just have no pitch.
Curious to hear Jason’s pitch about reassigning my domain name servers while standing on a Swiss ball and playing the ukulele.
Thank you Ad. You have no pitch? We can roll with that.
No, but certainly inspired by others’ pitches. Good learning for a pitch dummy like me. Keep slinging them in, folks. Reading with interest.
Rubihawk’s 30 second elevator Pitch:
Rubihawk empowers you with insight from your MYOB data, providing the confidence to make better-informed business decisions.
Rubihawk is a business analytical management toolset that runs in tandem with MYOB, providing simplified information in the form of visual dashboards and reports with the ability to schedule delivery of information from MYOB via email.
Rubihawk also consolidates multiple MYOB files in seconds.
Welcome, Ferenc! Lovely to see you here. Many thanks for your pitch, to which I’d add:
… and my website is VERY swish!
I’m a bit like you Paul. I can promote and rave on about someone else’s business until the cows come home but find it really hard doing my own self promotion! I have attended seminars on networking and having an elevator pitch and am still haven’t really taken up the challenge, but here I go:
Gifts For My Girl (http://www.GiftsForMyGirl.com.au) is a boutique style online gift store, stocking gifts for girls and women of all ages. The ‘Spoil and Fun’ factors play a major role in our product selection – we only stock items that will make girls and women feel special and happy. We stock everything from books, bags, jewellery and homewares, to novelty items, stationary, body products and baby gifts.
Providing a personal online shopping experience with first class service is a huge priority for us and our aim is to make shopping for women’s gifts easy, hassle free and successful!
OK – that only took me 25 minutes!!
Good on you for pushing through your natural resistance, Anna; I think that’s a fine effort!
Describing our own strengths is so hard for some. For further reading on this agony, see:
http://mybrc.myobnet.com/2009/07/21/speak-or-zing/
I agree – it is hard. Sometimes I wonder whether it would be worthwhile teaming up with another PR/Marketing person so we can write eachothers marketing collateral? That way I would never have to do my own! I’m off to check out your link now.
I’ve spent 20 years searching for a good PR person. So far, the ones who can write don’t know anyone, and the ones who know everyone can’t string a sentence! If anyone knows a person who excels on both sides of the fence, I have clients who want to know their name!
I know some people…and I can write…but do I know the right people? Feel free to email me if you want to discuss.
I want someone who knows ALL people! Then again, does anyone?
I believe the purpose of an elevator pitch is to create intrigue about your offering, to the point where the listener is quickly thinking, ‘Tell me more’.
Your brief, one-way pitch should rapidly evolve into a two-way conversation. Try to keep it quirky, light and airy, and drip feed into the conversation catchy little gems that may not fully explain what you do. This leaves room for the listener to ask questions, or, if they don’t, for you to add qualifying comments. Also, it’s great if you can ask them a question during your pitch, to see if they relate to a problem or situation for which you have the solution.
The purpose of an elevator pitch is not to make a sale or get an appointment; it’s just to get the listener to conclude that you’re a reasonable human being who seems to know something that may be useful.
Here’s the first part of my elevator pitch:
I stop people falling asleep at conferences and events. As a Hoax Speaker, MC and Corporate Comedian, I turn ho-hum into ha-ha at product launches, awards dinners, VIP client functions and company conferences.
(Even at this early point, I may then ask the other person if they can relate to the notion of falling asleep at a conference. And, of course, I’m now conversing WITH them, not just talking AT them.)
Cheers.
This is BRILLIANT, Graeme; thank you for taking the time!
Ah the pitch
For me this all gets back to what your business does for customers and what your personal brand says about you!
Firstly it has to be authentic
Secondly it has to be unique enough to create ‘inquisitive attention’ ( see sales cats lesson 6 – http://www.thesalescat.com.au)
Paul, I remember the pitch i liked most from you: at the empire “I help people say more with less” i really like that because it prompts a question in the person you say it to. “how does he do that” your inquisitive mind clicks into gear.
Steve Jobs of Apple Mac fame has a vision to create a “bing” in the world every time they launch a product! Love that and the products.
At Banjar Group ours is “assisting people to build and sell their personal brands, be it child, adult, product or service”
Now to let me unpack that. We believe all selling is about presenting and pitching your personal brand in combination with all the sales techniques we know well. Banjar does this in the community with kids for free teaching them the confidence skills to pitch ( Banjar Balinese word for values and community) with sales people and sales leaders and strategically with organisations for fees to grow profit. Thats what we do passionately.
Therefore the Pitch – We are Banjar Group – the response – “tell me all about that” – i tell them what we are passionate about. Nobody is scared of talking about what they are truly passionate about. Simple, no fear of self promotion as they are engaged via the inquisitive nature of us all.
Tips, Trips and Traps:
Get your pitch tight
Practice
Be authentic – no fakers please
Create and disturb the inquisitive mind
Try and use a pitch that does not allow people to tap into their ‘pre conceived ideas’ ( trap for accountants that have ACCOUNTANT in their brand
Be bold and confident
Go forth and pitch!
Mike – The Sales Cat
Struth, Mike. You just reminded me how far we go back. I’d totally forgotten I used to have that pitch!
We are indeed fortunate to have your expert take on this topic. My thanks to you too for laying it all out for us.
Is Adam not having a pitch actually his pitch?
My pitch as follows: ‘I’m a self styled Guru that will show you the way, follow me’
Generates an interesting response.
Interesting point, Malcolm!
I’ll follow you with one thong raised high ANY day!
Very impressed with the sales cat’s comment. Very, very good explanation of an elevator pitch. I will be checking out his site.
Thanks
Malcolm the marketing penguin.
Mike Boyle is a keeper alright. He’s the bloke who first put me onto Seth Godin many years ago.
(And we know how that turned out!)
Hey Adam,
Indulge me in a hypothetical exerice. I have wrting and editing business. Let’s call it, say, WrongMammal. It’s very similar to one or two busineses you would be aware of. I would like to engage Writefish to prepare an elevator pitch for me in less than 5 minutes. Of course I am hoping you charge pro-rata for part-thereof hours!
What would you come up with?
WrongMammal. Hmmm.
‘Not with the rabbit?’
Not wishing to steal your thunder, Ad …
Here’s one for my band The Jaded Cats. This time I have gone for a more conversational style:
We’re a classic rock covers band and we perform stuff like Hendrix, Zeppelin, The Doors, AC/DC, The Stones, Creedence… basically anything from the 60s and 70s that you might hear on 91.5, Gold 104 and MMM. The guys in a band are exceptional musos and we love what we do and we’re passionate about the music. We use vintage gear so our performances actually sound like the original records.
Fantastic, Jas! That rocks and rolls off the tongue. Keep ‘em coming!
Jas, I would encourage you to stick to the IT-atop-Swiss-ball-while-singing business (a niche market). I can’t see how Wrong Mammal could pitch its business AND do all those other things.
I am being stupid, as usual.
All you serious SME folk, share your pitches. I’m learning.
Jason
Or for a shorter elevator ride:
We are a band that breathes life into the classic anthems of the 60’s and 70’s, Zepplin, Hendricks and the doors. We do this by melding classic instruments and passionate muso’s who have mastery stamped on their CV’s
We are the jaded cats!
Maybe I need them for next sales cats launch?
Mike
That’s brilliant Mike! May I use it?
Yes of course
Here’s one for the Fitness business:
Our funky {insert suburb} studio incorporates innovative equipment and has a positive and relaxed atmosphere in which to train. We utilise cutting edge training methods based on best practice techniques. Constant supervision ensures our clients get the best results and exercises are performed safely to minimise any chance of injury. We are not a gym where people wander in and exercise as they please. We provided targeted programs for each individual or group. Our head trainer is a fully accredited former professional athlete who has competed at a national and international level at both Rugby Union and Rugby League. We also provide mobile on-site training at your home, work, beach or local park. We offer general fitness training or we can help you reach a goal or prepare you for a specific event. We provide corporate training and fitness accreditation services.
That was hard. I’ve tried to adopt a bit of Mike’s style to give it a bit of colour and make it less matter-of-fact. And failed! It’s more of a brain dump than a cohesive message.
Good for you, Jas! You may need a Burj Khalifa elevator to get all that out, but I’m sure Mike will trim it to suit. Many thanks for sharing!
Hey Mike,
I slightly modified your text (see below) and posted it as our status on Facebook.
As a small thank you I have pasted a link to your website into my personal facebook feed and commented that you have a great way with words.
Cheers, Jas.
We are the band that breathes life into the classic rock anthems of the 60s and 70s. We do this by melding vintage instruments and passionate musicians who have mastery stamped on their CVs.
We are the Jaded Cats!
Oh, and by the way we do a version of The Stones’ “Stray Cat Blues”
Boy howdy Autocat! I wanted connections and we jolly well got one!
Here’s one from our Winston Marsh:
Here’s an approach that has worked for me for years.
What you’ve got to be able to do is summarise what you do in a dramatic and compelling sentence that takes less than than 10 seconds to say so that people say, “Wow, that’s interesting. Tell me, how do you do that?” Well, let me explain both the how and the why, starting with the why first.
When you go out for dinner, people generally ask you two questions. The first is “What’s your name?”, and providing it’s not too late in the night, you’ve got a fair chance of remembering that. The second question is “What do you do?” or “Where do you work?”, and that’s your opportunity to seize their attention and get them interested in what you do. Now, subsequently, you may find out that they’ve got no real potential for you, but at least it’s a good idea to seize their attention and get their interest. Most people answer the question “What do you do?” with something boring like “I’m an electrician” or “I export widgets” or “I’m an accountant”. Very rarely do answers like that seize the recipient of such information by the short and curly and get them to want to know more.
So, what have you got to do? Simple. You’ve got to say it in a way that has them saying, “Wow, that’s interesting.”
Let me give you an example. You’re in insurance and somebody says, “What do you do?” Now, if you tell them you’re in insurance, they’ll disappear with alacrity, leaving you to wonder where everybody went, so don’t say it. Try saying something like this: “I fix up the mistakes that other people have made with your insurance that will cost you a hell of a lot of money”. Now, could you say that? Of course you could. I’ll bet that if you are in insurance, you’ve never met a person yet who has the right amount of insurance cover. From the moment it’s written, it probably needs fixing. So, everybody has problems with their insurance, and you can position yourself as the expert that fixes them.
Okay, let’s have a look at some other phrases you might like to use for your business or your occupation. What about this one? “I’m an expert in locating hidden sources of…” What about this? “I have an almost instant solution to give you what is called…” Or how about this? “I’m only one of a handful of…” Maybe you could try this upfront method: “I’m probably too expensive for you, but…” or “You probably wouldn’t be interested, but…”, or if you’re talking on behalf of your company, “Our company is probably the only one that…” Or what about this one? “People often come to us with…” Or, finally, how about trying this when somebody asks you what you do? “I’m sorry, I can’t tell you”. What are they bound to say? They’re bound to say, “Why not?” Now you’ve got them interested. See, you have piqued their curiosity and that’s what this is all about – making people curious so they want to find out more about you and what you do. Curiosity is compelling. It’s one of my rules of business. Remember the Cheshire cat in Alice in Wonderland? “Curiouser and curiouser,” the cat said. The more curious you make people, the more they want to know things and the more they’ll be interested in what you do. And when they find out, you’ll be well on the way to building a relationship that can lead to business.
Well done Jason
Keep in mind less is not more more of what matters is the key
I have learnt in over 30 years of selling that how you pitch your personal brand is key
Despite popular belief customers don’t give a flying &@/)&@/ bottom about what you do they care about where what you do can take them, emotionally, achievement, forward essentially to a better place.
A band entertains but takes people to a better place at the end of the night, think of great concerts and what you feel afterwards?
Your pitch will need to convey the feelings, achievements, passion etc. Short and sweet.
Get could at culling down
Great posts today great subject Paul
Mike the sales cat
Thank you, Mike. This post had garnered more page hits for the blog than any of our previous efforts.
The contributions from you and all our other kind readers have been phenomenal. I’m extremely grateful.
I think I’ll hit you up for topics more often, Naomi!
‘I’m probably too mediocre for you, but I could maybe do some stuff for you. Or not. Whatever. This is your floor. Get out.’
How am I doing?
Business pitch: I try to use Graeme’s approach and generate a two way convo. It’ll typically go something like:
Them: “Yeah masterchef is great huh. So what do you do for a living?”
Me: “I’m a Social Media Consultant”
Them:”oh so you bum around on Facebook and Twitter all day?”
Me: (polite haha) “Yeah that’s the guts of it. You’d be surprised the benefits it can deliver though. Let’s use your widget factory as an example…”
Relating it back to something they’re familiar with tends to work better than delivering the same script over and over.
Dating Pitch: If a fat man puts you in a bag tonight, don’t worry I told Santa I wanted you for Christmas. (Has worked 0 times)
rad topic by the way – Naomi feel free to send me some ideas for my blog
Love your contributions, Dan. Thank you!
Loving this discussion! Thanks for sharing everyone.
Paul and Dan – nothing like a good brain dump of ideas to get the creative juices flowing!
Happy to take part in a content/topic brainstorm anytime!
great topic. hooray for Naomi!
Just landed in London to this excellent Post and discussion. My elevator pitch? I am known as the ‘brain man’ at the kids school (after doing some guest talks there) – does that count?
The sales cat sure is ‘puss in boots’ on this one. Love the contribution, thanks!
The elevator pitch is a great way to set the scene for your ’story’. As others have said, it encourages the listener to want to know more.
So here are mine:
#1 – Resourced Leaders: I unlock the potential in individuals, teams and organisations. When we are all asked to do so much more with so much less, releasing your full potential and becoming elegantly influetial delivers results and real impact. I am uniquely qualified and experienced to help make you, your team or your organisation truly resourced leaders.
#2 – Reflective Resolutions: I help people resolve issues of the ‘modern life’ with strategic hypnotherapy. We all have the motivation to be who we can be. I have the tools to assist you to get there.
Writing your own is always the hardest gig. Any feedback from the ’sages on these pages’ is most welcome!
Dear Phil, thank you for staying in touch from across the waves.
Thanks also for your pitches. Not only are they pithy, they reveal two fascinating facets I’ve never seen combined in one person before.
Best regards, P.