The Elevator Pitch: Tips for Crafting A Stellar Pitch in 2 Minutes or Less

Elevator

If there is one imperative for every business, it’s a stellar elevator pitch. You might want to consider developing one or re-thinking the current one, otherwise, it may be a sign you don’t understand your brand, as well as you, think you do.

If you can’t communicate your message clearly and concisely in three minutes or less, then your messaging may need to be reevaluated.

There is, however, an art to creating your elevator pitch. Here are a few of our best tips to help you craft and deliver yours with panache and flair the next time someone asks you about your business.

 

Know Your Objective

What is it you are trying to communicate? Are you trying to sell a product? A service? Do you just want to communicate what it is you do in an engaging and compelling way? Know what your goal is with your pitch because this will help you to craft it.

Share What You Do

You want to make sure you focus on how you help solve problems and help people. People don’t really care about what you do until they know you care about them. So, ask yourself what is in it for them, and then share your answer as part of your pitch.

Another good question to ask yourself is what do you want them to remember the most? This should be a core, key takeaway about you and your business.

Tell Your Story

Your pitch should include a little something about your brand story. You don’t want to spill everything about your business and life, but you should share enough to peak their interest.

After communicating what you do and a little of your story, you also want to share what makes what you offer so special. What makes you special is your unique sales proposition or USP.

Keep It Short

People have very short attention spans, especially in today’s era. It’s called an elevator pitch for a reason. You should be able to deliver it in the time it takes you to travel a couple floors up or down. A good rule of thumb is to keep your pitch around 2 minutes or less.

Some experts recommend keeping it under a minute. Any longer than that, and you run the risk of losing not only their attention but also losing clarity in your message. Think snappy, short, and compelling.

Practice Your Pitch

Never, ever just “wing it” and don’t rely on just remembering it either, merely because you’ve read it a couple times or helped write it. Practice it. Practice how you deliver it, and practice leaving room for pauses and questions.

Practice your body language, practice the speed and cadence of your delivery. The more you practice it, the more smoothly you can share it and the faster it will become like second nature.

Mix It Up

Once you’ve memorized your pitch, you can then mix things up a bit and deliver it a little differently, depending on your audience. Though it’s fairly formulaic, you don’t want it to sound that way. You don’t have to deliver it the same way every time.

But it is important that you practice that initial pitch first until you know it forwards and backward. Then you have room to play with it and make it different depending on who you’re talking to, where you are, and when you are sharing it.

We hope these tips help you in crafting your next elevator pitch, whether it’s for a product, a service, your brand story, or your next big idea.

If you can’t share it in 2 minutes or less, we highly recommend tweaking and refining it until you can. You will gain clarity and that clarity will be passed on to your audience. stellapop-click-to-tweet

 

See Also:

The Big Win: How to Handle Missing Out on Business and Life Opportunities

How to Prepare for a Presentation

How to Leverage Video Resumes

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