The Fantastic Life

Delivering The Perfect Elevator Pitch

 

I am a former athlete.  One thing I wonder is why athletes practice and work at developing a certain skill for hours, weeks, months and even years – just for one skill AND then not work on a skill that will help them the rest of their life?

Developing your elevator pitch is one very important skill that many people don’t take the time to work on.  Over the course of your life you will meet thousands of people.  Each one of them should walk away with a positive and great impression of you. The article below covers the important steps to perfecting your elevator pitch.

Please take a little time to develop this skill.  You will use it.

Rule #11 from my book The Fantastic Life: Don’t Waste Time
We all have a limited amount of time. So why would you waste a single minute? I schedule my days so that I spend a little bit of time every single day working on the skills I know I need to work on.

How-to Perfect Your Elevator Pitch


April 7, 2016

What is an Elevator Pitch?
An “elevator pitch” is a brief, persuasive speech that is used to spark interest in what you or your organization does. It must be short enough to get your concept across to a person within the time an elevator reaches the next floor, a selected floor, or the ground lobby.

Perfecting your elevator pitch is a best practice for all professionals who find value in word of mouth promotion and growing a personal network. Once you perfect it, you’ll be able to use it anytime, anywhere, and with any audience.

Key Components of an Elevator Pitch
The following aspects are the foundation of your elevator pitch. It’s what’s worth considering before you build your pitch.
• Benefit Driven – What does your company do? What do you do for your company?
• Differentiated – What is your company’s core competency? What is your value proposition?
• Relatable – What stories will your audience relate to? Why should they care?
• Engaging – What opportunity will you present them to elicit feedback and continue the conversation?
• Actionable – What is your end goal? What’s your call to action?
After you write down your answers and organize your thoughts, it’s time to craft your perfect elevator pitch in 5, 15, and 30 second increments.

5 Second Elevator Pitch
Keep this around 15 words or less. It’s a no brainer to insert your title or company name, but make sure to include what your main competency is in a general or very specific way. There’s no right or wrong – you just have to use your best judgment for the situation and commit!

5 Second Elevator Pitch Examples
• Trapp Technology is an IT Solutions provider geared towards small to medium sized businesses.
• Trapp Technology delivers world class IT service, technology, and customer support at affordable price points.

15 Second Elevator Pitch
Have a few more floors to go before you hit the lobby? Use your 45-words-or-less pitch! This is essentially your 5 second elevator pitch with a value added message. It’s one step beyond what you “do” and should reflect the results of the “how”.

15 Second Elevator Pitch Examples
• Trapp Technology is an IT services provider specializing in end-to-end technology solutions for small to medium sized businesses. We fix and simplify complex IT challenges and provide clients with 24/7 support for greater peace of mind.
• Trapp Technology delivers world-class IT service, technology, and customer support at affordable price points. Our solution agnostic approach makes the most of small to enterprise-level budgets.

30 Second Elevator Pitch
You’ve been properly introduced and all eyes are on you for your moment in the spotlight to “tell them a little about the company and yourself”. You’ve got a maximum 90 word count and 30 second time limit to make your point before your audience loses concentration. If you don’t garnish interest by then, the conversation will end unfavorably.

Take your 15 second elevator pitch, add value propositions your audience can relate to, and unique differentiators. Portray the benefits your audience will reap by working with you, and lastly, get ready to sell! If selling doesn’t come naturally, work on increasing your product knowledge and researching more success stories- doing so will build confidence in yourself and message.

30 Second Elevator Pitch Example

Trapp Technology is an IT services company specializing in end-to-end technology solutions for small to medium sized businesses. We fix and simplify complex IT challenges and provide clients with 24/7 support for greater peace of mind. Specifically, the business’s core competencies are Cloud and Managed IT. Our proficiencies with Cloud and Managed Services cover desktops, VoIP phones, Network, and hardware solutions. Regardless of complexity, we do whatever it takes to deliver proactive solutions at affordable price points, backed by world class U.S. based customer service.

Remember, perfecting your elevator pitch is only an introduction to an engaging conversation to follow. Let your audience do most of the talking and listen intently to their feedback. Make sure to have questions, statistical data points, and “social proof” readily available as you develop your story. If you’re unable to answer a question, be honest and turn it into an opportunity to be proactive and follow up with your audience as soon as possible.

Last thing to keep in mind: the inability to be concise and say succinctly who you are and what you want can raise a red flag and potentially deter someone from learning more about you or working with the organization you represent. So practice, practice, practice!

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