Elevator rides are not long instances. Even in skyscrapers, an elevator ride is a matter of minutes.
Likewise, your elevator pitch, while more than likely will not transpire in an elevator, will need to be presented as if it were.
Whether the purpose is to attract investors, venture capitalists, potential partners, or civic advocates, your elevator pitch needs to get the job done.
The key is brevity. You must be powerfully concise. Do not get stuck in the minutia of details associated with your business.
Practice the K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple, Silly) principle. Within sixty seconds, the job should be complete.
That’s right, sometimes you’ll only have one minute to pitch the business. If done well, you’ll get follow-up meetings where the details can be hashed out uninterrupted.
Think like an executive.
When leaders throughout a corporation meet with an executive, they do not get bogged down in the details.
It’s considered a high-level, bird’s eye view of their division productivity. Think of pitching your brilliant business in a way that is suitable to executives.
SEVEN STEPS TO A PERFECT PITCH
Elevator pitches are more art than science. While they are statistically sound, the delivery is musical. The lyrical delivery is what attracts attention – this is the reason details are to be avoided.
Create your pitch by following these seven steps. Remember, your energy should flow like a musical, so relax.
Think of it as a brief but powerful dance to a great tune. Some pitch masters even think of elevator pitches as jingles with perfect lyrics.
Jingles are influential as they etch a theme associated with a product into the minds of listeners.
Do the following and deliver a most powerful, influential, and memorable pitch.
1. Define The Problem
Practicing the K.I.S.S. principle, state the marketplace problem consumers are experiencing as concisely as possible. The key to doing this well is to make sure the emotion associated with the problem is illuminated.
Communicate the angst, frustration, anger, or disappointment associated with the common problem. Make it concise, make it relatable, make it big. Do not draw it out and overwhelm the hearer with the challenge. Your goal is to raise the issue for awareness only.
The problem does not have to be complicated – it can be simple. Simple issues are not always easy to solve, thus your business. You are the entrepreneur, the innovator effectuating change in the marketplace. And, as with any innovation, “to the victor go the spoils.”
2. Describe Your Solution
After proclaiming the problem in a clear statement, move to the solution. Solving a problem is the purpose and focus of the pitch. Your business is the solution. Make sure the hearers hear the name of your business repeatedly. An old southern saying proclaims, “it’s a mighty poor dog who won’t wag his tail.” Wag away.
The solution your business performs is solely focused on the problem. Be careful not to delve into other associated concerns – this is an elevator pitch, not a lecture.
Keep your solution to as few words as possible- this creates intrigue and suspense, causing the hearer to desire more information. But, the time is limited at present, so a follow-up meeting will have to be scheduled – this is your goal.
3. Know Your Target Market
To whom are you speaking? Who’s your audience? Who needs to hear this pitch, and why is it essential for them to do so? Knowing the answers to these questions helps you frame your elevator pitch appropriately. In addition, the answers to these questions will help you adjust your pitch to fit your audience precisely.
The goal is not to utterly change your pitch. The goal, however, is to make the pitch as effective as possible. Therefore, knowing your audience helps you to adjust vocabulary, tone, and timing to accommodate and relate to your audience as best as possible.
While this is essential for investors and potential partners, it is equally vital for your potential customer base. You want to ensure you understand the market comprehensively. As such, make sure you infer the following in your pitch:
- Market Segmentation – the two to three groups that primarily comprise the market. They are segmented by spending behavior or need.
- Market Size – this is more of a brief but accurate demographic composition, in other words, who and how many people make up the segments previously referenced.
- Average Customer Spend – how much are these segments spending. Please provide a total here, do not break it into pieces. It will take too much time. Details should be provided in the follow-up meeting.
The pitch is bolstered with substance by providing these minimal details, but the pace is not affected.
You want the pitch to move with swiftness.
Therefore brevity is critical. However, you don’t want to offer an empty angle.
The above information will give the pitching depth while maintaining a good pace.
4. Describe The Competition
Acknowledgment of competition displays your awareness. It answers the unposed question of, “Does she know what she’s talking about?” Yes, you do. You are fully aware. It is the actual presence of inadequate businesses that have brought you to create a more viable solution.
While acknowledgment of competition is essential, it’s not the central aim of your pitch. Again, similar to the market discussion, it is necessary for credibility. Therefore, do not shirk from acknowledging competition, but make sure to mention the impending shortcomings and how your business solves them.
5. Share Who’s On Your Team
You are an entrepreneur. You understand that you get more done through others than by yourself. Therefore, boast on your team. Drop a few positions and possibly a name. Let the potential investor or partner know others believe in this business.
Your business is not an untried biased idea – it has withstood rigor – it has been refined and improved. Others believe in your business and have aligned themselves and their most precious asset, their intellectual capital, to bring it to fruition.
Introducing the team also introduces the missing member – the investor with whom you speak. Can they see themselves as a part of your team? A follow-up meeting will solidify this.
6. Include A Financial Summary
Financials are necessary, but the details. A great pitch will communicate a more top-level financial approach. Referring to the Balance Sheet is sufficient. You may even disclose such to your potential investor but do not attempt a five-year analysis or projection. That would be too much. Remember, you are actively and intentionally practicing K.I.S.S.
7. Show Traction With Milestones
Be honest with yourself. You seek an investor or partner for a reason – you need help – there is nothing wrong with that. However, potential investors or partners want to know how you have been tracking your business. Therefore, you need not proclaim goal attainment. That would not be true. However, you have reached milestones.
Milestones are the small but significant victories along the road to goal attainment – this is important for potential investors or partners to hear. They will want to know what you have achieved without their involvement.
Entrepreneurs are driven by accomplishment, and an investor will want to see what you’ve been able to do.
Speak candidly about the milestones and what each represented in very pithy concise sentences. Each builds upon the previous. Doing this will excite your potential investor or partner, certainly requiring a follow-up meeting.
PUT IT ALL TOGETHER INTO A PRESENTATION
Everything communicated verbally must be supported with an attractive presentation. This presentation can be a link or Q.R. Code that the potential investor can click or scan later.
You may even provide printed materials, but be sure there is genuine interest.
Those materials can be costly.
Pitch decks are not complicated but strategic. Each slide is associated with the above-listed topics.
For additional support in compiling an attractive pitch deck, Pitch Master’s Academy offers resources to support you in this effort.
- Do you desire to deliver a winning elevator pitch?
- Does your business need support from influential business leaders?
- Do you need help developing as an entrepreneur?
Pitch Master’s Academy develops budding and established entrepreneurs.
Experts at Pitch Masters Academy will support you each step of the way, regardless of the stage of your business development.
Contact a representative online today for support and solutions to build the capital needed to accelerate your business success.