I was wrong about the idea of elevator pitches and you could be too.
This misunderstanding could be costing you a lot of money in terms of lost opportunities for new customers and extra sales. I want to stop you making the same mistake I did because it took me more than ten years of owning my own business to get this right.
Elevator pitches are important if you don’t have as many customers as you want
Until a few years ago I thought elevator pitches were slick and sleazy and when I heard a corny expression, it immediately put me on my guard.
However at the same time, I recognised that introducing yourself with your business type has a nasty habit of making the other person turn you into a commodity supplier in their minds.
“I am an accountant (or a printer or a lawyer or a chiropractor…)”
Whatever the job, I assumed I knew what the person did.
The people I talked to did the same to me when I mumbled some kind of explanation of what I did because I was resisting the idea of having a pre-planned “corny” elevator pitch.
I could virtually see their eyes glaze over with a sign saying “I’m not interested” when they may have needed my services.
I bet you do the same when you meet someone new and they introduce themselves in such a boring way.
A better type of elevator pitch
Then I learnt a technique to create a better style of elevator pitch that could be varied based on the situation and the person I was talking to. It made a lot of sense to me and I developed a phrase I was happy to use.
Working with clients, I came to see this short statement as an essential positioning tool that explains how customers benefit in what situation and explains why a business is different to the competition.
Our coaching sessions turned meaningless generalities into meaningful specifics and that clarity of purpose rippled through into all the other marketing the clients did.
The elevator pitch became an acid test into how much thought a client (or any business owner) had given to their marketing.
If they couldn’t quickly and concisely explain what the business was about, I knew there was a marketing problem and the business owner was making it hard for customers to buy from the business.
