A post on Cristina Favreau’s The Savvy Entrepreneur blog reminded me of an old event.
You do have a short, to the point “Elevator Pitch” that summarizes your business value proposition in that 30 seconds or less timeframe?
Do all of your staff know it? Or just sales / marketing?
I always make sure I am aware of the marketing / sales information our business uses – including that elevator pitch.
True story: about a year or so ago at a social event I ran into a tech guy. I marketed our business using our corporate elevator pitch, and was able to expand on it.
Now a year later, this organization is in touch with our sales staff.
Coincidence? maybe – and maybe not.
The takeaway is that every one of your staff is responsible for your success.
You can subscribe to this blog by clicking the RSS icon on the Home Page!
Thank you ! I have been subscribed to your blog for a while
It is not to say that a good elevator pitch is “easy” -
To make it really work you must understand your prospective customer – and the “pain points” that they may have.
And those points will be different for different roles within your target organization.
PS: keep up the great writing!
By: elliotross on June 30, 2008
at 11:25
Elliot, thanks for the link love!
Your suggestion of creating several 30-second intros that you can pull out, depending on your audience is key to being ready to answer the “So what do you/does your company do?” question to any one, at any time.
I’m convinced the end result of your story was not coincidence. A prospect needs to hear your consistent marketing message on average 9-12 times to influence a buying decision. Your 30-second intro was part of making that message heard! Congrats!
By: Cristina Favreau on June 30, 2008
at 11:15
I agree 100% with your post – In fact I keep several “Elevator Pitches” (all similar) in my pocket (figuratively speaking) As a Technology Manager, I keep a more “techie” one for use when I meet another IT Pro, as well as the standard one for for senior executive “decision makers”.
And as I mentioned – all staff members in the SMB space are unofficial ambassadors and delegates of your business. Don’t leave these value propositions just to the “sales folks” – You never know who your staff will be talking to some day.
By: elliotross on June 27, 2008
at 10:43
Great points, I also posted on this similar topic including the use of elevator pitch. I’m interested in your thoughts.
http://roihunters.wordpress.com/2008/05/20/fix-problems-dont-sell-services/
By: Tim Rueb on June 27, 2008
at 10:16