A successful 60 second “Elevator Pitch” is a carefully planned and practiced description about what your business does and what referrals are best for you and your business.
The one thing that it IS NOT is a sales pitch. The purpose of the 60-second pitch is to train members of our group to know what you are looking for in a referral so they can become a sales force for you not become a client/customer. (Be great and it is likely to happen anyway.)
Before we get into how to put your elevator pitch together, I’m also going to cover a few extra questions for those of you who are in networking groups. You should always have 2-3 different pitches based on the person you are telling.
Questions to Ask When Creating Your Pitch:
- What is your name & business name?
- What do you do?
- What area do you service?
- Any specials or announcements?
- Referrals you are looking for?
- Contact
Your pitch should be no longer than 60 seconds.
When you are creating a 60-second elevator pitch you should have a “Core Elevator Pitch” and then a few variations.
Creating Your Core Elevator Pitch
Your core elevator pitch should answer questions 1,2,3 & 6.
Obviously this isn’t a deadset 60-second pitch but this is my basic breakdown for the webinar.
My name is CJ Hallock with WebDesignWebinar.com. WebDesignWebinar is a free resource for brands and small businesses. From basic pieces of training like “How to Create A Gmail Address” to complete website design tutorials & continued trainings on how to market your website and building your brand online, it’s all 100% FREE! You can access the trainings & resources by going to webdesignwebinar.com and if you need to contact me you can use the contact page.
Now, of course, this is not how I say it word for word but it is a basic example.
While creating your pitch, for networking groups, work on 1-3 and try to get the overall breakdown of your business down to about 20-30 seconds. Once you know your “Business” or “Core Pitch” part of the pitch is at/around 30 seconds, it will be easy to judge the final 30 & wrap up in a timely manner.
The next part of your pitch “specials” or “announcements”. This section is just to inform the group about any big specials or announcements about your business. (ie. Open House, Flash Sale) This should only be 8-10 seconds.
The final and most important part of your pitch is your close. Just like in sales your close is where the magic is. Yes, it’s easy to know if someone complains about their car breaking down you can send them to a mechanic. But, if you don’t specify who your ideal client/customer is then John Doe may send a person with a “Honda” to a “Corvette Specialty Shop”.
What are you looking for?
Knowing exactly who you want to do business with is best. For example, I’d like an introduction to John White at Whites Law Firm. If you do not have a specific person you would like to be introduced to, let us know what a good & bad referral is.
YES, bad referral. This is the most important piece of information you could say. If you don’t tell members what a bad referral is you may be getting that referral today! J
How to contact you?
In this section be sure to include if they should contact you via phone/email/twitter/in-person.
Be sure to include the best time to contact you as well. Is your contact information on your business card?
This should help you get your 60-second elevator pitch together.
If you have any questions you can comment below and I’ll be glad to help if I can or you can send me an email via the contact page.
Now that you know how to create a good elevator pitch, remember how important continued education is. So check out this quick post about elevator pitches on Forbes.
