How to Easily Create a Killer Pitch
Creating an elevator pitch is essential to being able to communicate what your business does in a short period of time.
Often, it can be challenging to come up with one that perfectly captures exactly what your business is. Use the formula below as a guide when creating your very own elevator pitch.
What Is An Elevator Pitch?
An elevator pitch is a short summary of your business. Its main purpose is to quickly convey the key elements of your business to investors and future clients to get them interested in what your company has to offer.
The name is, “elevator pitch,” because your pitch should be no more than the amount of time you would spend in the elevator with a future client. A lot of the time, people aim to make their pitch 60 seconds or less.
Why Elevator Pitches Are Important
Most investors and clients are constantly being pitched with new ideas. They often do not have the time to sit down and listen to you talk about your business for an hour. This is why it is so important to gain their interest in your 60 second elevator pitch. If you aren’t able to convey your business quickly and effectively you most likely won’t be remembered by the investor or potential client you were talking to.
Investors and potential clients often work in teams. So if you talk to one person about your business they will most likely have to present it to others. Your potential investor is not going to remember a 15 minute presentation about your company, but they are more likely to remember a few key concepts from your 60 second elevator pitch. This makes it easier for them to pass on the information to their coworkers.
A Great Elevator Pitch Formula: Comparing Yourself to Another Successful Venture
A great way to explain your business to others is to compare it to a different successful business that is similar to yours. When doing this, you want to make sure you are clearly explaining how you are different from them, and how this difference makes you better.
The Simple Elevator Pitch Template
If you are able to compare but also differentiate yourself from a successful company then you will be successful when it comes to your elevator pitch.
If you are not wanting to go that route, you can also formulate a list of questions and answers, and build your elevator pitch based off of that.
Answer the following questions:
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What does your company do? (use phrases like we help, we provide, we manufacture, we offer, etc.)
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Who is your target audience?
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What benefits do you offer your customers?
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What type of business are you running? (restaurant, grocery store, clothing, etc.)
>> Unique Selling Proposition Worksheet <<
Combine the information collected from your questions
Now that you have answered several questions about your business, try and combine the answers into a 35 word statement that describes your company. Make sure to say it out loud to see if it flows well together. You can also test it on friends and coworkers to see if they can pick up on the key points and repeat them back to you.
Practice Makes Perfect
Make sure to type out your elevator pitch so you can practice delivering it. The more you practice, the easier the words will flow, and the more natural it will sound.
You also should make sure to present your elevator pitch in front of friends and family so you can receive feedback and get used to talking in front of actual people.
Elevator pitches can be hard to create, but once you have a solid one it will benefit your business greatly. If you want to learn more about creating an elevator pitch, or expanding your business, check out Creative DSM, we can help you!