How To Write An Elevator Pitch: For Entrepreneurs

According to an article by Zety, an elevator pitch is “a short persuasive speech you use to introduce yourself, your product/service or your company”. An elevator pitch allows you to state clearly who you are or what your company offers without so many words. It is called an elevator pitch because it was derived from the scenario of having an elevator conversation.

Imagine you meet a business mogul like Dangote or Tony Elumelu on an elevator or someplace where you know they only have about a minute to spare. How will you make good use of the opportunity? I believe this article will answer this question for you.

Who you are

Every day, we are constantly asked the question of who we are. The difference is in the way we answer it. When you meet someone for the first time, you can’t jump to talking about personal issues, you must first introduce yourself. The same goes for businesses.

Your elevator pitch should start with an introduction of who you are, as a business entity. This is why it is always advisable to define what your business is from the onset, so you can have it handy at times like this.

Value proposition

Do you know your company values? This is one of the varying places they are needed. You must have your company values at the tip of your fingers. These are the values your company is known for. Summarize them and dish them out to your prospect.

Your numbers

Statistics is everything. Investors, for instance, are big on numbers. You must identify how much traction your business has and how much revenue you have generated. This will make you stand out as an authority.

This way, your prospect knows you are sure of what you are doing, and not just blabbing. Of course, you don’t have to make up the numbers. Just interpret what you currently have in numbers.

Engagement

At this point, you’ve been doing all the talking. You can ask them an engaging question. Ask a question like if they have had experience with a similar company or product/service. The purpose of asking a question is to first, observe if they have been listening, and second, to know if it has been a successful pitch. Their response (or not) will show you that.

Engaging your prospect with a question is the last stage of your pitch, but you will do a whole lot better if you have your business card handy. It will be great to just hand it over to them. And if they deem it fit to call for another pitch, it will be easy to reach you. Don’t panic. Even if your pitch doesn’t go as planned, you must have made an impression. It only gives you the ladder to climb higher.