How To Nail Your Next Elevator Pitch

My biggest piece of advice that I give all of my employees…

Is to get comfortable with being able to sell yourself or your business, anywhere and in front of anyone. 

This isn’t something that comes naturally to most and will require a lot of thought, research, and an endless amount of practice. We all have nerves or stage-fright that often get in the way of these important conversations but being able to nail this one little thing, called an Elevator Pitch, is what can make or break your career. It’s the difference between signing the contract or getting turned down from that potential client that could have sent you well on your way to the top. And I want to do everything in my power to help you nail your next pitch and get that contract signed, instead of having to “feel the suck” when the door hits you on your way out.

What is an elevator pitch? Well, those of you that are unaware of what it is, should have been taught this in High School or college, but since we all know that schools rarely teach valuable life skills, I’ll enlighten you with a little entrepreneurial knowledge.

Put simply… an elevator pitch is a brief, 30-second overview (if written, no more than 2 sentences) about either, who you are or what your business is, and why someone would benefit either from having you in their network or investing in your company. This should catch people’s attention and hook them in. 

We often talk about an elevator pitch in business, but it can mean so many things. You can have your personal elevator pitch to sell yourself in an interview or networking event, you can have an elevator pitch for one of your business concepts/ventures, or you can be selling a specific product or service and need a pitch to get the customers’ attention. Whatever the case may be, you have to be able to sell it well, get your point out quickly, and make it impactful, otherwise, it’s just a waste of time for everyone involved.

Before I jump right into how to nail your elevator pitch and ways to perfect it, I want to make sure that everyone is clear on what an elevator pitch should consist of. There are 4 simple things to include in your pitch, no matter what you’re selling, to make it truly impactful and those four things are:

• A very brief introduction of yourself, your business, or your product. This should be no longer than 10 words. If it is any longer, go back to the drawing board and narrow it down until it is 10 words or less. This is your magic number.

•  Enlighten them on how you, your product, or your business, can solve a common problem in society or make their lives easier. If you can’t define this point, then you need to do more research on yourself or the industry that you’re in. 

• Define what makes you different and why they should choose you over anyone else. This is the single most important part of your pitch and is the one that you should put the most thought into. What makes you better than the rest and why? Again, keep it short and sweet.

• Finish by opening the door to future meetings with a call to action. (i.e. “let’s set up another meeting time where we can discuss this further.”) The biggest mistake new entrepreneurs make is leaving out this last step. You can’t nail down any sort of meeting or contract without a call to action at the end but could be as simple as asking to schedule a more formal meeting.

So now that you know the basics, how can you nail your elevator pitch game? Well, let’s jump right into it. 

How To Nail your Elevator Pitch:

Know what you’re selling.

This should be common knowledge, but most don’t seem to know that this is the very foundation of a successful elevator pitch. You need to know the ins and outs of yourself or your business/product and know it like the back of your hand. This means competitors, your company’s biggest achievements, industry trends, and the finances behind it all, too. You never know when someone is going to ask you a question that you didn’t prepare for and you lose out on a good client, connection, or investor because you didn’t do your homework.

Be passionate about it!

We all know that any entrepreneur has poured their heart and soul into their business, so don’t be afraid to show it. Your passion will help add momentum and excitement to your pitch and keep your audience focused. This sets the pace for the entire encounter, so you better make sure that you bring you’re A-game and fuel up on coffee, or several coffees, if necessary.

What makes you different (really different)?

Radical Differentiation is one of my favorite terms in business and personal life. I first read about in the book Zag: The Number One Strategy of High-Performance Brands by Marty Neumeier. This book discusses how to break through the so-called, “noise” in the marketing world by becoming RADICALLY different than any of your competitors. To do this you must find, what you’ve heard me mention several times before, “white space” within the marketplace to become truly successful. The same is true in networking, “wow” people by being so different and unique that they cannot forget you and can’t risk losing you. 

Confidence is key.

Walk-in with the mentality that THEY don’t want to fail their one opportunity to win YOU over, not the other way around. They only have once chance to sell you, and if they aren’t successful, there are a million other fish in the pond that you can sell your idea to that have just as much passion around the business as you do. You don’t just want anyone to invest in you or your business, you want people that truly believe in what you are doing. But whatever you do- don’t be arrogantly cocky, just confident enough to lose the nerves and make sure that you are in control of the meeting.

Do a little stalking. 

In a formal business pitch, it is important to know your audience. Know who you’re pitching to and everything about them. Use your connections and common ground to build relationships with your audience. You both are bound to have some mutual connection, work or school history, favorite sports teams, anything that can give you an upper hand from the next guy. Like they always say, “your network is your net worth”. Not only will it impress them that you went the extra mile in your research, but it makes the pitch more authentic and conversational. 

Keep it clear and concise. 

Leave out the abbreviations and acronyms in these conversations and make sure your pitch is straight to the point- no added “fluff”. You should do everything that you possibly can to make sure your message is clear and concise to avoid any miscommunication between you and your audience, and to let them know that you understand that their time is valuable.