An elevator pitch is a quick, 30-second statement that’s designed to educate and spark interest in a specific organization.
This is how elevator pitches work: Imagine you’re dining at your favorite restaurant when a hand taps you on the shoulder. You turn to see a former colleague standing behind you, on their way to their own table. After you exchange pleasantries, they ask, “So, what does your new company do?”
The restaurant’s host is waiting to seat your former colleague, so this exchange needs to be short. The clock is ticking.
Unfortunately, the words just don’t come out the way you want them to, and you end up mumbling something vague and uninspired about your new sales job. “Oh, neat,” your former colleague says with a slightly confused look on their face. “Well, it was good to see you.”
And just like that, they’re gone.
Later that night, you remember that your former colleague now works for a big, important company downtown. If you had been prepared, you could have presented your organization in a better light and maybe even scored them as a client.
In this article, we’ll show you how to create an effective elevator pitch in seven easy steps. That way, you never miss an opportunity like the one depicted above. Let’s dive in!
7 steps to writing an effective elevator pitch
The following steps will help you craft and deliver an elevator pitch your prospects won’t soon forget.
Before you begin creating your elevator pitch, you first need to lay some groundwork.
Clarify what the goal of your elevator pitch is. Yes, it needs to educate and spark interest in your business. But what else do you want to convey?
Ask yourself some questions to get clear on your message. What is it about your business that you most want to communicate? Who is your target customer? What differentiates you from your competitors?
If you’ve ever crafted a value proposition before, you’d recognize these questions. Essentially, your elevator pitch communicates your company’s unique value in short form.
If you’ve never thought about your value proposition before, try filling in the blanks of this statement:
I/We help [target audience] to [solve a specific problem/achieve a specific goal] by/with/without [unique benefit].
Examples of how some may fill in the blanks:
We help small businesses enhance their email marketing results by providing proven plug-and-play templates and deliverability tools
We help busy working parents create easy-to-make nutritious meals without spending long hours on shopping and preparation
We help time-strapped professionals get to work on time by linking them with drivers in their area.
Your value proposition will be the core or skeleton of your elevator pitch – and it’s something you can lean on whenever you get tongue-tied or forget your pitch.
You also want to make sure you understand exactly what you’d like your listener to do after hearing your pitch.
Depending on the audience, time, and occasion, your CTA should be flexible. But it’s best to define some core actions you’d like the listener to take. For example:
Get the listener to answer a question about their needs related to your product or service.
Hand a business card and get them to commit to a specific time frame to call you or expect a call from you
Exchange contact information/connect on LinkedIn
Any action that opens an opportunity to follow up
Step 2: Know your audience
Now that you’ve taken the time to differentiate your business and understand your goal, how do you craft your pitch in a way that most resonates with your listener? This is a matter of understanding your audience.
Lauren Torregrossa, the Media Relations Manager at CareerPlug, says: “Businesses need to remember who their audience is and make sure they’re speaking to their needs. While it’s great to talk your company up, it’s even better to address how you solve your clients’ problems and make their lives easier.”
How do you do this—Especially if you’ve just met the person you’re delivering your elevator pitch to? One way is to start your pitch with a question. Based on the way your fellow conversationalist answers, you can tailor your pitch specifically to them.
For example, if you sell tax preparation software, you could ask, “Do your taxes take you longer to complete than you’d like?” When your contact says “yes,” you could launch into an elevator speech that speaks to how quickly users of your software are able to prepare their taxes.
Always remember this advice from Stacy Caprio, founder of Accelerated Growth Marketing: “All the person listening cares about is how you can make their life better or easier, so focus your pitch on exactly how your product does just that.”
Step 3: Answer the main questions
So far, we’ve covered the need to communicate your value proposition and the importance of understanding your audience. Now, let’s take a moment to discuss how to actually craft your own elevator pitch.
Kelly Bertog, a Marketing Manager at Future Founders, tells us that: “Unfortunately, too many people feel [the need] to fill their pitch with as many facts and details as they possibly can. This inevitably leads to a rushed, overstuffed pitch that does nothing.”
Kelly encourages people to instead focus on three main things in their elevator pitches: the pain point, the value proposition, and the call-to-action. Luckily, we’ve covered two of these steps, so this step won’t be too hard for you. Let’s take a closer look at each:
The Pain Point: Show the listener that you have a deep understanding of the challenge/pain point that they’re currently facing.
The Value Proposition: Explain why your business is uniquely suited to solve that pain for the customer or help them overcome that specific challenge. Since we covered this in Step 1, it’s all a matter of choosing how to word it effectively when speaking.
Call to Action: Clearly articulate exactly what you want that individual to do (agree to a longer meeting, invest, sign up for your demo, visit your manufacturing center, etc.)
If you focus on these three things in your elevator pitches, you’ll be able to quickly and succinctly convey information to your audience in a persuasive way.
Step 4: Have multiple pitches
At this point, you’ve likely thought of and crafted an elevator pitch. But don’t stop there. The most effective step towards crafting an effective elevator pitch is to have more than one.
According to Glen Gould, CEO of Dry Cleaning Connection, “You need three elevator pitches that you have rehearsed, delivered, and edited based on responses you get to ensure you’re always using your best material.”
The three pitches Glen recommends are:
Chance Meeting: This elevator pitch works best when the person you’re talking to has no frame of reference for what you do. It should casually introduce a problem, then speak to the way your company and/or product solves it.
Prospect Meeting: Use this pitch when talking to an actual prospect, i.e. somebody who’s already expressed interest in your company and the products it sells. This elevator pitch should ask a question that confirms an incorrect assumption for your prospect. Then it should go on to show how your product proves this assumption wrong.
Presentation Pitch: The presentation pitch is an elevator pitch that tells the story of how your company and/or product helped another customer. It should present a problem, illustrate your company’s solution, and then provide actual results.
Ryan Vet, entrepreneur and author, agrees with this approach: “Having key bullet points and adapting your pitch to the setting, the time you have, and the audience can make all the difference in the world to getting that follow-up call.”
Step 5: Practice your pitch
You’ve painstakingly crafted your elevator pitch(es). Congratulations! You now have the ammunition you need to quickly educate folks about your company and spark interest in the products and/or services it offers. But your work isn’t quite done yet. You also need to practice your pitch until you’re able to deliver it confidently in any situation.
Forgetting to practice is one of the main mistakes that Chris Ygay, the owner of Private Practice Dollars, sees people make. He says: “Too often, people create the elevator pitch and don’t take the time to practice their delivery. Much like an actor commits lines to memory, a business owner needs to practice their elevator pitch. Lack of practice often leads to wordy, long, and unfocused elevator pitches.”
Once your pitch is committed to memory, try practicing it in front of the mirror to ensure your body language matches your words. This extra effort will guarantee that your elevator pitches are more effective.
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Always look for ways to improve your elevator pitch. JC Glancy, one of the founders of Zen Business, encourages people to: “Listen intently to feedback and responses every time you make your pitch – this is free info you can use to iterate!”
He goes on to say: “Even if their response is nothing—or negative!—that is feedback that lets you rapidly iterate the pitch and make it better. Use it! If you’re constantly working on your pitch, you’re constantly making it better.”
In all likelihood, your elevator pitch won’t be perfect right out of the gate. You’ll need to use it a few times, see what works and what doesn’t, and then adjust your approach based on the results you achieve, whether they’re positive or negative. By doing so, you’ll ensure your elevator speech becomes the very best that it can be.
A few ways you can improve your elevator pitch based on feedback:
If you’re not getting listeners hooked from the first sentence, try working in storytelling elements or improving your delivery
If you find that you don’t have enough time to get to your CTA, consider shortening sections that seem tedious or redundant
If you notice you’re often asked for clarity about certain points in your elevator pitch, consider adding more detail to these points
Step 7: Focus on authenticity over theatrics
After talking with numerous elevator pitch experts, one thing became very clear: the need for authenticity. If your pitch sounds phony or contrived, you’ll have a really hard time getting anyone excited about your company or the products you sell.
That’s why the founder of Crowned Fox Adventures, Steve Renard, says: “A good elevator pitch is only partly about the content, so while you can craft one, it will fall flat if it’s not authentic or you don’t believe it.”
Ellen Mullarkey, the VP of Business Development at Messina Staffing, agrees and adds: “Your elevator pitch doesn’t have to sound like a pitch. You shouldn’t sound like you’re trying to get funding from Mark Cuban on Shark Tank. It should sound natural and conversational. You want to be able to deliver your pitch in casual situations, like at parties or conference lunches.”
Make sure both your pitch and the way you deliver it come across as authentic, and you’ll have much more success. To do this, be passionate about your company and its products and convey that passion with natural, conversational language.
Support your great elevator pitch with the best lead management system
Your elevator pitch is important! A well-crafted statement will educate folks about your company and spark an interest in the products you sell. At the very least, you’ll represent your company in the right way and help to ensure the general public perceives it properly.
When you’ve made an effective elevator pitch and acquired new leads, it’s crucial to follow up effectively and close the sale. You need an intuitive CRM – such as Nutshell – to manage contacts and provide essential features such as:
