If your ideal customer was in a elevator with you for one minute -
could you explain the benefits of your business, your product, your offer?
Think and Grow Rich Action Step #6) Create Personal Initiative
It is better to act on a plan that is still weak than to delay acting at all.
Wikipedia define elevator speech - An elevator pitch (or elevator speech) is an overview of an idea for a product, service, or project. The name reflects the fact that an elevator pitch can be delivered in the time span of an elevator ride (for example, thirty seconds and 100-150 words).
It is best to remove “hype” words such as “pitch” to eliminate or reduce the “pushy salesman” image
Imagine you have a chance meeting with your “ideal prospect” and are alone with them for a few minutes – and have an opportunity to briefly explain how you product or service can help them.
The Canadian Broadcasting Company created a series about Elevator Speech and has this YouTube video where they explain “The CBC's business reality series, Dragons' Den, is where contestants pitch their business ideas to 5 multimillionaire investors in an effort to acquire the funding they need to make their business come to life. The way to succeed is to master the "elevator pitch." Mentor Capitalist, Sean wise explains how.”
There is a book Elevator Pitch (sic) Essentials that explains: “An elevator pitch is an overview of an idea, product, service, project, person, or other Solution and is designed to just get a conversation started.”
This book offers The Nine C’s of an Effective Elevator Pitch
The 9 are: 1. Concise 2. Clear 3. Compelling 4. Credible 5. Conceptual
6. Concrete 7. Consistent 8. Customized 9. Conversational
"The Elevator Pitch prioritizes who you are and how you work, the qualities that you are employed for, rather than what you did and where you worked, your past, which is the emphasis of a traditional CV.”
If you were in a bar – or other public place and someone asked you about your business – what would you say?
Do you have a presentation prepared – that you can share at will?
Joe Vitale describes marketing as: “Said another way, if you have something
that would truly benefit a certain group of people And you don’t tell them,
aren’t you doing them a disservice? “
"Again, marketing is basically sharing your love, your passion, your belief,
When you share it with someone who welcomes it More often than not it leads to a sale, naturally, easily and effortlessly. And that’s no BS.”
Are you comfortable with your product or service?
Do you feel uneasy telling somebody about it?
Do you feel you are giving somebody a “hard sell” when you talk about the benefits of what you offer?
If someone put a gun to your head, or God forbid to the head of someone you love and “forced” you to say good things about your product or service – would you be able to?
When you no longer have a salesman working for you – as in the union or large company and have to sell yourself – in exchange for the prosperity and freedom that provides you and your family – isn’t it worth the small effort to learn how to write and present your elevator speech?
By creating your elevator speech, you help yourself with Step #7 – your Signature Speech as well as #8, #14 and #15 – among others.
Being able to tell the world about yourself is not easy at first – but there are organization such as the Dales Carnegie course to help
They have a book “How to Gain Self-Confidence Through Public Speaking” – an elevator speech is a great way to start on the road to self-confidence
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Do you have an elevator speech – if you have 30-60 seconds – what would tell the “perfect customer” about you and your business?
What is your elevator speech –
if your “perfect prospect”
was alone with you for 45 – 60 seconds –
what would you tell them about your business?
An effective elevator pitch generally answers questions such as:
• What the product, service, or project is.
• What it does for the buyer, investor, or sponsor (e.g. the benefits).
• Who you are and why you will be successful.
The Nine C’s of an Effective Elevator Pitch
Now that you have a high-level sense of what an elevator pitch is, and what an elevator pitch is designed to do, let me drop down a level and discuss the characteristics of an effective elevator pitch.
After working with hundreds of would-be entrepreneurs, and studying hundreds of effective and ineffective elevator pitches, I have found that an effective elevator pitch is nine things.
1. Concise
2. Clear
3. Compelling
4. Credible
5. Conceptual
6. Concrete
7. Consistent
8. Customized
9. Conversational
From Pitch Yourself by By Bill Faust & Michael Faust
This revolution in the way we sell ourselves in CV and at interview is based on the Elevator Pitch concept and has now been endorsed and recommended by over 40 of the world's leading business schools and universities, from Kellogg to Columbia in the US, from Insead to London Business School in Europe and from Otago to Sydney in Asia-Pacific.
The Elevator Pitch prioritizes who you are and how you work, the qualities that you are employed for, rather than what you did and where you worked, your past, which is the emphasis of a traditional CV. The Elevator Pitch shifts the focus from your perspective to the employer’s perspective and from the past to the future. It's a way of presenting yourself that makes more sense to the employer, and allows you to sell yourself more effectively. It's a way of writing a CV and preparing for interview that will vastly increase your chances of getting the job.
Employers now are focused very much on competencies as a way of deciding who to employ. This is the book that shows you have to bring your competencies to the forefront. In a time when there are far more graduates than top class graduate jobs, standing out from the crowd is vital. This is the book to show you how. The second edition incorporates feedback from the authors' global seminar and lecture program, meetings with careers advisors at these institutions as well as helping hundreds of people create their job winning CVs.