Do We Need One More “How to Write an Elevator Pitch?”

There are a bazillion articles, tutorials, analyzers, and videos on how to write an elevator pitch — so why one more? I have a slightly different per­spec­tive, which I’ve found to be suc­cess­ful. The elevator pitch (EP) theory is, when intro­duced, there is very little time to capture someone’s attention. The EP scenario is, you have a chance meeting with an influ­en­tial person on an elevator — you have time for about 35 words. How do you capture anyone’s attention with only 35 words? More about that later, but consider this: What would most people like to talk about?

I agree with many elevator pitch advocates — an EP should include who you are, what you do, what your com­pet­i­tive advantage is, and the benefit to the end-user.

“Hi, I’m Bill Doe with ABC Widgets, not only are we top quality, but we have the fastest delivery in the nation, which reduces inventory and saves our customers money.” That’s 30 words — I have 5 left.

I also agree an EP should be developed by the sales, marketing, and executive staff as a team and should be uniformly used – to a point. Every­thing changes and the EP should change with it. It should be fre­quently updated, and whenever possible, the EP should be modified for a specific person or business.

Ulti­mately, the goal of the elevator pitch is to continue the con­ver­sa­tion. What would intrigue others to talk with you more? What do people want to talk about? I believe people usually want to talk about them­selves and their orga­ni­za­tions. What are my last five words of the pitch?

“How may I help you?”

Our marketing team recently attended an event with a potential customer. We knew they’d just started using social media in their business. We explained our newest service, TKO Signs, and its benefits. Then, we offered to share our expe­ri­ence with social media. We spent the rest of our time dis­cussing how to use social media, and how it could help them. A few days later, they contacted us about a national signage project.

Do we need one more, “how to write an elevator pitch?” I think so. If you’d like to learn more, let us know. How may we help you?