Whether you’re trying to interest a customer in your products/services or you’re trying to grab the attention of a reporter, having a strong elevator pitch is the key to your success. Like its name implies, an elevator pitch is a strong, concise pitch that you can deliver in the time it takes to share an elevator ride with a prospect.
To help you create the perfect elevator pitch (or to refine your old one), I’ve come up with a list of essential pitching tips.
1. Keep it short – The whole point of an elevator pitch is to clearly deliver your message in the shortest amount of time possible. Whether it’s literally in an elevator, while sharing a quick drink at the bar, or during a rushed phone call, you need to be able to make your pitch quickly and effectively. This means you need to focus only on the core of the message, eliminating any unnecessary information or details.
2. WWWWWH – It’s all about answering the most essential questions of:
- Who?
- What?
- When?
- Where?
- Why?
- How?
If you can answer these questions clearly, there’s a good chance your elevator pitch has covered the most important information that prospects care about.
3. You need to hook them – Your elevator pitch doesn’t have to close the deal on the spot. Instead, you should just be focused on hooking the other person. You want to grab their interest just enough so that they’re asking for your business card or scheduling a future time to discuss things further. The hook needs to come right at the beginning. It can be a leading question or a bold statement (e.g. Ereleases.com is changing the way small businesses handle PR….”). You need to open strong, or else the rest of your pitch won’t get heard.
4. Prove your claims – Too many elevator pitches are all hype and no substance. It doesn’t matter if you’re pitching to a potential customer or a reporter, they’ve all heard B.S. pitches before. To earn their trust, you need to stick to the facts and statistics. Include the strongest proof you have to back up your claims. This adds credibility and an extra layer to your elevator pitch.
5. Be passionate – If you aren’t excited about what you do, why should anyone else be? Your pitch needs to showcase your passion and your belief for your story. Your excitement can rub off on others, and it can be helpful in grabbing the attention of the person you’re pitching to. Just make sure you don’t overdo it and come across like a used car salesman.
Do you have an elevator pitch? What have you done to perfect it? Share your best tips in the replies.
This article is written by Mickie Kennedy, founder of eReleases (https://www.ereleases.com), the online leader in affordable press release distribution. To subscribe to PR Fuel, visit: https://www.ereleases.com/prfuel/subscribe/.