Before you can consider crafting a great elevator pitch you need to have a complete understanding of the term itself. An elevator pitch is a sales presentation to a prospective client or customer that can be completed in as long as it takes an elevator to get from one floor to the next. At maximum you have thirty seconds. How do you make a sale in thirty seconds? The answer is that you don\'t.
Perhaps the best way to describe an elevator pitch is to compare it to the headline of an advertisement. One of the best copywriters in the world, the late Gary Halbert, would often spend days crafting the headline of an advertisement. The reason is very simple. If the reader does not get drawn in by your headline, then the rest of your copy is a total waste of time. Your headline MUST get the reader to follow on and read the next sentence. If it doesn\'t do that you are sunk. The same applies to your elevator pitch.
Imagine this scenario. You get into an elevator and the guy you have just met says "So exactly what does your company do?". You have thirty seconds. That\'s all. He\'s going to get out at the next floor.
So now you understand the importance of creating and above all learning an elevator pitch. You can use this whenever you meet somebody who might be interested in your company, your product or you. Obviously it has to be good. You must use it as a headline in order to get the prospect to follow up with you. For this reason you need to have a business card, your phone number or email written down so that you can hand it to the prospect. However, he is only going to do that if you have enticed him with your elevator pitch.
Follow these steps:
1. Think about your goal. Do you want to tell him about your company, a specific product, or just how great you are?
2. What do you want him to remember most about you? How wonderful your company is? How fantastic the product is? You need to have a very clear idea of what you want to achieve. Remember that you can use the same pitch time after time once you have it clear in your mind.
3. You need to get across your USP (Unique Selling Proposition). What is it that makes you/your company/your product different from everyone else? To highlight this you might say "Well, we send our representative to meet every new prospective customer face to face so that we know exactly what it is that they need. Most companies don\'t do this, but we prefer to have the facts before we recommend the right solution".
4. Ask a question - one that can\'t be answered with a straight yes or no. "What sort of criteria does your business use when looking for a xyz provider?".
5. CLOSE! "Yes, I understand. Look, we might be able to help you with this. Here\'s my card. Give me a call and we can talk about it a bit more. Can I have your card too? Thank you. I\'ll give you a call in the next day or two. It was nice to talk with you".
And that\'s it.
Now it looks simple, and indeed it is. However, you need to think about exactly what you want to achieve, write it down, and take your time to learn it. You can then use it any time you meet a prospective customer in a situation where you only have 30 seconds to impress them.
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