Creating a thirty second Elevator Pitch in just one minute!

I have always had a bad reaction whenever anyone mentions the 'elevator pitch'. Pitching is one of the least effective ways to sell anything. Like most people I don't like being pitched to and I don't like the supposition/assumption that someone can sell me something in the time it takes to ride an elevator. Have you ever noticed that elevator pitches often start as a 30 second pitch but have a bad habbit of ending up as a 5 minute sales monologue ......and have I mentioned yet, that I hate pitching because it is one of the least effective ways of selling anything.

And yet, I have seen more than one sales person rattle off a 15 minute monologue (while forestalling and fending off interruptions) ....and at the end the client is more confused about what it is exactly that they offer and what value their product or services could be to the client.

They not only confuse their potential clients but they also bore and annoy them by spending far too much time talking instead of taking an interest in the clients unique issues and requirements.

I recently asked the participants at a sales coaching workshop to deliver a 30 second elevator pitch. This exercise clearly demonstrated that:

1. Many sales people don't have a clear visualisation of the value proposition(s) that their products/services offer their clients.

2. There are a large number of sales people who can't provide a clear and concise description of their service or product.

3. That putting yourself into a posistion where you have to listen to elevator pitches is a horrifying experience more unpleasant that being hit over the head repeatedly with a mallet.
   
   
4. There is more value in the task of creating the pitch than delivering it. I think most of the real value lies in what you learn creating it.
   
   
5. While using any prepared pitch is definitely not be my preferred method of opening a sales call, it can be a very helpful as a response to the question “what is it that you do?”
   
   
6. The only place for a prepared pitch is when you are doing a presentation to a group.
   

Rather than try and justify the above comments I invite you to take the one minute challenge below to create an 'elevator value proposition'.

I ask that you observe the following three rules for this elevator pitch.

One: The 'elevator pitch' needs to be very concise. It must take no more than 30 seconds to deliver!

Two: Your elevator value proposition needs to be plain and simple enough to be instantly understood. No tech talk. No industry jargon. No clichés. As an acid test your mother should be able to 'get' your elevator pitch the first time she hears it.

Three: There must be a focus on the goal of your elevator value proposition. You're hardly likely to make a sale directly from your elevator proposition. Remember, you're only using it to create initial interest. Your goal might be to use it to book a meeting with the customer or introduce yourself to a business group.

Ok start your stop watch. Your one minute 'write a elevator value proposition' starts now....

Jot down the answers to the following five questions on the back of an envelope:

1. Write down a possible hook. A "hook" is a question or statement that piques the clients interest to want to hear more........................(e.g. The number one business limiting issue currently being lamented in the media is...)

2. Who you are.............................(e.g. company name or your name. No more!)

3. What it is that you specialise in.....................................

4. What your products/services do for your clients.....................

5. What is the Return on Investment for clients who adopt this product or service.......................

6. The goal is to .......................... (e.g. gain a sales meeting)

Now on the other side of the envelope plug the answers to your five questions into the following template.

Thank you for asking. (The hook is) _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

(insert your company name) specialises in _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

The typical results for our clients are $ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ .

If these results would be of interest to you I would like to _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

OK stop the watch, your one minute 'write a elevator value proposition' stops now.

Review what you have just created: Read your elevator value proposition out loud to a colleague. Does it take you more than 30 seconds? If yes, shorten it!

Did your colleaue groan and hold their head in their hands?

Was I right that much of the value is in the creation of it?

Was I right that there is more value in the task of creating the pitch than delivering it? If so my suggestion is that you experiment with creating a written elevator response value proposition for each of your key products and services...and then never deliver it to a client.

Using the format above a 30 second elevator value proposition for SalesFish might read like this:

Thank you for asking.The most common business growth limitation we hear is "It's very hard to obtain and retain top sales achievers. If we could clone our top sales person we would be dramatically more profitable. SalesFish specialises in maximising the results of everyone in the sales team. Typical results for our clients are an initial increase of between 10 and 20 percent with understanderbly higher longer term gains as sales people become more proficient using our methodology. If these results would be of interest to you I would like to have an hour of your time to see if the same sales growth might be achievable for you.

by Liam Venter:  Author of the popular sales training manual
'The Consultative Sales Professional'
You can obtain a copy here

Comments

[Paul Newsom]

Fully agree Liam. Call the elevator pitch what you want, sales people have to be able to answer the question, 'what do you do for your customer'. Too often, the answer to 'what do you do' is limited to what we do for our employer.
There is huge value in doing this exercise. You may never use the written answer, but you still need to have a verbal answer which establishes your credibility. Practise the delivery of this so that it sounds conversational and not contrived while getting the listeners attention.