Pique interest in 60 seconds

The elevator pitch intends to spark enough initial attention to get an invitation to present on a more in-depth basis.  Following are three links with guidelines of how to draft a great pitch.

Eight pointers from Bill Joos
vice president of business development for Garage.com.
The soul of his sermon?  Brevity brings the best results.

Seven pointers from Hewlett-Packard
Get an unforgettable tag line!

Fill-in-the-blank format
Do it yourself elevator statement.

Eight pointers from Bill Joos, vice president of business development for Garage.com.  The soul of his sermon?  Brevity brings the best results.
Adapted from www.fastcompany.com/feature/00/act_joos1.html

  1. Assume short buildings.
    Joos is fond of quoting Mark Twain's bon mot, "I didn't have time to write you a short letter, so I wrote you a long one." Some elevator rides may last more than 60 seconds, but don't allow your pitch to last more than a minute. Brevity requires effort -- you must think hard about the essentials of your message and ruthlessly cut away the unnecessary details.
  2. Put a tag on it.
    Joos recommends starting with a tag line -- a wordplay to pique interest in your pitch. For example, GE "brings good things to light," Archer Daniels Midland is "the supermarket to the world," and the New York Times publishes "all the news that's fit to print." A tag line must encapsulate your business's core purpose or product, but, more important, it must grab your audience's attention -- you'll fill in the rest a few sentences later. Joos's personal tag line? "At Garage.com, we start up startups."
  3. Solve a problem.
    Avoid sounding like a solution in search of a problem. Right after your tag line, launch into an explanation of the need you plan to meet. If you aren't solving a problem or filling a need, you're in for a tough sell.
  4. Turn adversity into opportunity.
    Every problem offers the opportunity for a solution. Once you've presented your prognosis, lay out your prescription. Boil down the unique elements of your approach into one or two sentences.
  5. Lay out the benefits.
    Remember this subtle distinction: You're not pitching a great idea, team, or product ... at least not in the elevator. You are pitching what your idea, your team, and your product will do for investors and for customers. This is the time to lay out your mission statement. How will your business benefit the world?
  6. Conclude with a call to action.
    Always end your pitch with a call to action. Different audiences prompt different requests. Ask friends and acquaintances if they know anyone who would be interested, who's working on something similar, or who's working in the investment world. Ask angels and VCs if they'd consider investing, if they'd take your call, or if they'd be willing to set up a meeting. If you're really in an elevator, offer to walk straight back to the office to talk more.
  7. Make it tangible.
    Throughout your pitch, talk in tangibles, not abstractions. Frame the problem, your unique solution, and the benefits your company will bring to the man on the street. Keeping it tangible means killing MBA- and tech-speak. Joos fondly recalls one mission statement he helped transform for a Garage.com client that makes a little box that encodes digital signals -- plug your phone into it, call someone else using another little box, and you're on a secure line. The client's mission statement? "Utilizing the 20-48 Diffie-Helman key exchange of 160-bit Triple DES ..." You get the idea. The new mission statement: "We safeguard your communications."
    Keep your pitch short, and keep it at a level people understand viscerally.
  8. Show your passion.
    "A good pitch changes the pulse rate," says Joos. "When we look at a business plan, we look at the normal kinds of things -- the numbers, the competition, the market -- but we also look for fire in the belly, a passion to succeed at something that's never been done before. That passion has to come across. You have to act like a new parent showing off pictures of your newborn. If you can't get me excited about your plan, we're done. You have to change my pulse rate."

Adapted from www.hp.com/sbso/advice/articles_general31.html

  1. An unforgettable tag line
    Remember how "GE brings good things to light"? You need a similarly catchy and descriptive one-line summary statement.
  2. A mission statement
    How will your firm / you benefit the world? Describe your mission in one or two stripped-down, compelling sentences.
  3. A clearly defined target market
    The more specific you can be, the better.
  4. A strong grasp of the real-world problems in your target market
    The key is to be succinct and specific.
  5. A solution for those problems
    Be detailed enough that anyone can understand what you are offering, but be sure to stick to a one or two sentence limit.
  6. Evidence of expertise
    Focus on why your firm / you are fit for potential clients.
  7. An Return on Investment summary
    It helps to address the money question. You might be enchanting, but unless you can generate income for your client, you can't get very far.

Try this fill-in-the-blank format for your elevator statement:

  • For [target customer, client, employer]
  • That [key qualifier]
  • Design / our firm / I [service category]
  • Provides [key benefit]
  • Unlike [competition or alternative]
  • Design / we / I [key point of differentiation]