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How to Write Your Elevator Pitch

Posted by Trish Bertuzzi on Thu, May 29, 2008 @ 10:39 AM
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I find it fascinating talking to sales & marketing executives about their company’s messaging and positioning. The reason I find it fascinating is that they are quite often able to articulate for me a great value proposition that paints a picture of what they bring to the table.

The problem is that when I ask them to translate that value proposition into an elevator pitch that can be used over the phone by their sales organization, they struggle. And if they struggle, can you imagine the struggle their sales people have?

These are the days of short attention spans. We need to be able to craft an elevator pitch that is an “actionable sound bite”.

Are you ready to take the “elevator pitch test”? There are 4 questions and each is worth 1 point.

Don’t read any further until you have written down your elevator pitch. Take the time to really craft the message that you deliver to your prospects on a consistent basis.

Okay, ready?

  1. Are the first words you wrote: "We are the leading provider of..."? If so, you get 0 points.

  2. Did you use more than 25 words? If so, you get 0 points.

  3. Do you think your pitch aroused curiosity? In other words, would the prospect be intrigued enough to say “Tell me more”. If not, you get 0 points.

  4. Now, call a friend who is not in technology and run it by them. Just give them the pitch and then ask them if they know what your company does. If not, you get 0 points.

So, how many points did you get? If you scored less than 4, at least you know what areas to work on right?

Most companies try to make their pitch too complicated. It seems the higher the price tag the more complicated the pitch. But, our prospects are inundated with messaging all day every day. Sometimes simpler is better...you know the KISS principle ("Keep It Simple Stupid")!

Oh and BTW, here is our elevator pitch:

We help technology companies build, evolve or validate inside sales strategies.

If you have a great elevator pitch you would like to share, feel free to post it as a comment!

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COMMENTS

Hi guys, I am a inside sales rep in the application and infrastructure hosting industry. here is a elevator pitch that i use quite often.
"We help you exploit economies of scale by providing higher quality at a lower price."

posted @ Thursday, May 29, 2008 11:07 AM by Mukul Sharma

@Mukal. Thanks for the response! I would say you are almost there - 3 out of 4 points.
One thing to think about, based on your elevator pitch I still don't know what you do. I know what NaviSite does because they are a client of ours, but if they were not - you provide higher quality "what" at a lower price?
Fill in that blank and you have a great pitch!

posted @ Thursday, May 29, 2008 11:24 AM by Trish Bertuzzi

Do you know how you feel like you are imposing with prospects follow up? I help you design follow up you and your customer want.
I usually have two or three questions for in-person networking elevator intros. And 99% of the time I get, HOW do you do that?
Patricia Weber
Sales Accelerator Coach for Introverts, Shy and Reluctant
http://introvertscansucceedatsales.com

posted @ Friday, May 30, 2008 7:19 AM by Patricia Weber

Oops. Forgot to say, I'm going to direct my readers to your post because most of the love "tests!"
Patricia

posted @ Friday, May 30, 2008 7:21 AM by Patricia Weber

#4 is the most important. I test my pitch on my son who is in 6th grade. If he doesn't get it, then it's a lousy pitch. This gives me confidence that I am speaking in words people understand.
Remember, you are only pitching one person at a time. Be bold! Be believable! How can I make it so that it personally benefits “the one person I’m pitching”. My favorite style is the two sentence rule: It does “this”, so you can do “this”. “Our system creates PowerPoint presentations faster, so your sales reps use less non-billable hours.” “Our system allows your Blackberry to call your AA to let you know where it is, in case you lost it.” And if anyone knows of a system that can do this let me know . . .

posted @ Friday, May 30, 2008 8:30 AM by Jeff Hoyland

@Trish ...
Ohh yes... Thats a great suggestion, Thanks for helping me out.... any other suggestions looking at our industry? whats your take on email marketing??

posted @ Friday, May 30, 2008 9:45 AM by Mukul Sharma

I love the test. Here is my pitch, let me know what you think: " Safety Trainers provides on-site CPR, AED and First Aid training to companies who are required and mandated by law to do so."
Thanks in advance.

posted @ Friday, May 30, 2008 4:46 PM by Joe Ceccarelli

@Mukal. As a matter of fact, we wrote an Inside Sales Playbook that would provide you with every sales tool you could think of from elevator pitches to closing statements. Reach out to me privately and I will tell you which NaviSite exec to contact to get a copy.
As far as email marketing. It has to be automated, intelligent and integrated effectively into the sales process. More to follow on this topic in another post.

posted @ Saturday, May 31, 2008 9:18 AM by Trish Bertuzzi

@ Joe. Great pitch. You get what you do out there net/net. A 4 pointer for sure!

posted @ Saturday, May 31, 2008 9:20 AM by Trish Bertuzzi

"I work with CFOs of SMB who are interested in accelerating the time to cash" I am eager to receive feedback on this.
Max

posted @ Sunday, June 08, 2008 12:42 AM by Max Rosenthal

@Max. Time to cash sounds like a great goal for every business! What kind of feedback are you looking for?

posted @ Monday, June 09, 2008 6:14 PM by trish bertuzzi

Hi guys, what a great blog! Here's my pitch (it's a work in progress):  
"Ignertia is a full-service creative company, offering clients everything from custom video production, to web design, IT support, branding and content creation." 
What do you think?

posted @ Tuesday, July 01, 2008 9:57 AM by Don Shell

@ Don. You are off to a fabulous start! I think you should consider removing the "full-service creative company" part and put in something like... 
 
 
 
Ignertia helps companies launch their brand or Ignertia helps companies produce videos that drive traffic or something like that. Get specific as opposed to your benefits as opposed to vanilla.  
 
 
 
You can even have several versions you use in throughout your selling process. That way as you communicate with the prospect they get to hear your whole message but in interesting sound bites. 
 
 
 
Hope this helps.

posted @ Tuesday, July 01, 2008 10:09 AM by trish bertuzzi

Thanks, Trish! I really appreciate the input. I'll keep working on it. Thanks for the ideas.

posted @ Tuesday, July 01, 2008 10:33 AM by Don Shell

Wonderful article Trish! 
 
Our pitch (work in progress) is:  
 
Exhibit provides you innovative solutions for outdoor advertising that will bring more attention to your ads for lower cost.

posted @ Monday, July 28, 2008 3:56 PM by Zidarski

I am new to the Customer Collective and love it! Would love to know what you think about this elevator pitch: 
 
At American Family Insurance, we help people protect and keep their hard earned assets with insurance products. Thanks!

posted @ Friday, August 08, 2008 1:50 PM by Julie

How about - 
 
 
 
At American Family Insurance, we protect and maintain people’s earned assets. 
 

posted @ Friday, August 08, 2008 7:20 PM by Max Rosenthal

Thanks so much for the input, I will use it!

posted @ Monday, August 11, 2008 5:46 PM by Julie

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