The Elevator Speech (or just “The Sales Pitch”):  A Simple Yet Critical Tool To Your New Business Success

Mark Twain is often credited with the now-famous saying about condensing what you have to say. It goes something like this:  “I would have written a shorter story, but I didn’t have the time.”

We live in a world of ever-shortening communications, in which “sound bites” have now become “tweets,” and a “long” YouTube video is one that lasts longer than three minutes.  Since, for many of us, time is our most valuable commodity, learning how to get your message across to others is a very desirable skill in business.

These days, we refer to a very short synopsis of your business as an “elevator speech,” and in this article, we’ll call it simply “the sales pitch.”  A sales pitch is a concise, carefully planned, and well-practiced description about your company that anyone should be able to understand in 60 seconds or less.  Learning how to give a great sales pitch is a valuable way to share your message.  It is also a great way to truly refine the essence of your company’s vision and plan.

The sales pitch is as essential as your business card.  You need to clearly and rapidly be able to communicate who you are, what you do, what you are interested in doing and how you can be a resource to your listeners.  A sales pitch helps you really understand who you are and communicate it to your audience.

Questions a Good Sales Pitch Should Answer

Before you can convince anyone of your business proposition, YOU need to know exactly what that business proposition is.  You need to define precisely what you are offering, what problems you can solve and what benefits you bring to prospective customers or clients.

The sales pitch helps you do exactly that.

Specifically, the sales pitch helps you answer some of the following questions:

1. Who are you and who is your company?
2. What are your key products or services and what are their strengths?
3. What adjectives come to mind to describe your company?
4. Who is your target market?
5. What problem do you help customers solve?
6. What is your business model and strategy?
7. Who is your competition and how are you better?

This sounds like a lot, doesn’t it?  Well, it IS a lot of information, and your challenge as a good communicator about your business is to develop and learn to effectively deliver a great pitch that will make someone want to know a whole lot more.

Basic Elements of a Good Sales Pitch

Once you have developed a good sales pitch, you will be amazed at how handy it is and how often you use it in a variety of settings.  To be sure your pitch is top-notch, here is a checklist of important elements to consider:

• A “Hook”: Open your speech by getting the listener’s attention with a “hook.” A statement or question that piques their interest to want to hear more
• Length: Your pitch should go no longer than 60 seconds
• Passion: Listeners will expect energy and dedication in your speech
• A Request: At the end of your pitch, you must ask for something. Are you looking for capital? Strategic Partners? New Markets?
• Practice: Be sure to spend time developing, practicing and testing your pitch. Create short videos of your pitch and critically review your presentation.