Honing an elevator pitch is something we all should do, and many spend hours writing and practising a pitch, following one of the many templates around, most of which are similar.
Grab attention.
Describe the product.
Articulate the benefit.
All in 30 seconds.
We fantasise about catching that mystical perfect customer alone in an elevator, enthusing him/her to such as extent that they rush out and buy.
Rarely happens.
More often, you get the opportunity to deliver your pitch at a networking meeting, or some semi social gathering.
Still rarely happens that your perfect customer is there, listening, but we are happy to be delivering a pitch perfectly in that hope.
However, most people, somewhere in their networks, will know someone who will be the perfect customer.
The question then becomes how do make the pitch sufficiently memorable, that they are able to recite it back to their networks.
Do this successfully, and you will have a host of sales people out there pitching for you, and we all know the most effective marketing is still person to person, word of mouth endorsement.
It comes down to being able to articulate your differentiator and value proposition, in one sentence, in simple words.
It must be memorable, simple, and describe why they should be interested beyond any apparent alternative.
In the early days of Uber, founder Travis Kalanick described Uber as “Push a button and in 5 minutes a Mercedes picks you up and takes you where you want to go”
Nothing about platforms, technology, marketplaces, or any of the other buzzwords we slip into so easily, just the benefit. More recently it has been further simplified into ‘Push a button, get a ride‘
One of my clients in Sydney, Planet Press that I met after I was ‘constructively rude’ about a botched elevator pitch delivery has a rare differentiator. It is a medium sized printing business with a highly experienced and skilled design function, combined with digital and offset printing, a wide range of die cutting, perforating and assembly options, along with a slick distribution service, all under the one roof. How do you make that lot sufficiently memorable that someone hearing the pitch will be able to relate it to their networks?
‘Quality printed communication from under one roof’?
Perhaps not quite there yet, but closer.
