Can you describe your business in 3 minutes or less? Imagine a situation where you meet a potential investor on the elevator, and you have only 3 floors to go. During that short elevator ride, you need to be able to win over the potential investor.
Called an “elevator pitch,” it is a quick and concise way to communicate who you are, what you do, and why you do it better. It is a way to present your business and win people over in just a short period of time.
The new book “The IT Factor: Be the One People Like, Listen to, and Remember” by Mark Wiskup (Amacom: June 26, 2007) offers four tips on how to perfect your elevator pitch:
1. Describe your business using non-jargon terms. Work hard to speak plainl;y and without jargon in the first sentence, and you will have them listening to you. If you rely on jargon to describe your business, no one will take notice of you — you’ll be just another guy in the industry.
2. Focus on your customers. Now that you’ve told the listener what your business is, immediately move on to how you serve your customers. Describe specifically what you do for your clients in plain and distinct language. Avoid vague, self-congratulatory maxims that sound familiar and safe — these phrases are meaningless.
3. Focus on overcoming challenges your clients are facing. Here’s where you can really shine. Launch into a single, highly specific issue or problem with which you helped a single customer. Nobody riding in the elevator with you wants to know everything your company does! By sharing a single interesting story, you can give them something to remember you by.
4. Focus on a happy customer ending. Make sure your story has a happy ending for the customer. When you describe a single problem that your product or service resolved for a client, you are telling your listener that you are worth the investment others make in you. It gives you instant credibility.
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