The door to the elevator opens. Someone you’ve been meaning to offer your services to is standing in one corner.
You step in, see that they’re going only 6 floors up.
You’ve got about 30 seconds.
What are you going to say to grab their attention?
That’s the spirit of an elevator pitch (and why it’s called an “elevator” pitch).
In this guide, we’re going to help you write an elevator pitch that empathizes with your target market, builds credibility, and emphasizes the value you offer.
But before we dive into the steps, let’s answer one burning question — what the heck is the point?
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Why Do You Need an Elevator Pitch, Anyways?
You might be thinking to yourself, How often am I actually going to find myself on an elevator with someone I need to pitch in 30 seconds?
The answer: not very often.
BUT…
There are still at least three very good reasons to write an elevator pitch for your business…
- Attention Spans Are Short — People are bombarded by advertisements and marketing messages nearly every moment of their waking lives. They’re not going to listen to you out of the goodness of their heart. You’ve got to get to the point… and get there fast. That’s what an elevator pitch accomplishes. Check out the example below which is a lead magnet for freelance writers…
- Brevity Demands Clarity — Another benefit of writing an elevator pitch is that the very act of doing so demands you to enhance the clarity of who you serve and how you serve them. By condensing your pitch to just 30 seconds or less, you’ll gain a better understanding of your business and how it fits into the marketplace.
- Everything is Sales — Finally, it makes you a better salesperson for your business… whether you’re on a call with a potential client, crafting advertisements, writing blog posts, or leading a team.
That’s why it’s worth your time to write an elevator pitch for your business.
You might use it exactly from time to time, but more often you’re just going to reference it internally for your marketing, advertising, and brand-awareness efforts.
It’ll be a north star for you and/or your team to look at when direction is needed.
So without further ado…
Here are the steps to writing an awesome elevator pitch.
Step 1. Understand Your Target Market
When you step into the proverbial elevator, it’s important to know who you’re talking to.
Because, after all, as with any great sales pitch, what you say should be almost entirely about them… and very little about you.
So.
Do you know who you’re speaking to?
You can refer to this person as your target market or dream customer — they are the person who you most want to do business with.
They’re your ideal client or customer.
As a quick test, try to answer these questions about this imaginary person…
- What are they most afraid of?
- What is the driving force in their life?
- What problem are they facing?
- What might happen if they don’t solve that problem?
You should be able to answer each of those questions with just a little bit of thought.
If you can’t, then check out the video below for a walk-through of creating your perfect customer avatar.
It might seem silly at first, but we also highly recommend giving your customer avatar a name, getting uber specific about things like their age, background, lifestyle, and pain points, and introducing this avatar to your team.
Here’s an example for inspiration…
Step 2. Compile Your Most Potent Ingredients
Okay.
Now you know who your dream customer is.
You know who you’re talking to on the elevator. But before we figure out exactly what you’re going to say, let’s compile all of your most potent ingredients.
What are the accomplishments and accolades that make you sound totally awesome? 😎
Let’s look at an example.
When I put my website together (for my freelance writing), I really wanted my experience to speak for itself.
That’s why, at the top, we put this awesome testimonial from Jacob McMillen…
Then I have a tiny bit of copy about myself, sort of a bio…
And then BOOM — more credibility…
And more credibility…
A bit about the services I offer…
And then MORE CREDIBILITY…
Why?
Because you know what sells wayyyy better than you saying you’re awesome? Other people saying you’re awesome.
Grab a piece of paper and make a list of all the things you’ve done that are awesome.
Maybe you have specific clients that are well-known, or you’ve been mentioned by some pretty prestigious publications, or you’ve won some awards, or you’ve helped a specific company solve a specific problem in a very lucrative way.
Whatever it is, write it down!
We’re going to use these ingredients later when we start actually writing your elevator pitch.
For now, I just want you to make a list.
Step 3. Identify The Problem You Solve
Now we need to identify — really clearly and compellingly — the problem that you solve.
Here’s the most common mistake people make during this part of the process.
I ask, What problem does your company solve?
You say, We offer a CRM for sales teams.
I say, Okay. But what PROBLEM do you solve?
Well, it’s a CRM. So it helps sales teams stay organized.
Me again: But what PROBLEM does it solve?
See the problem?
In this part of your elevator pitch, we’re not talking about what you offer… we’re talking about the problem you solve.
Let’s look at some common examples for different types of products…
CRM
Target Market’s Problem: Your sales team is great. But leads keep falling through the cracks, inefficiencies abound, and you’re losing both time and money (even though you’ve got great salespeople).
Website Builder
Target Market’s Problem: Your business rocks. But no one knows it. Word of mouth has got you this far. But what’s the next step?
Skin-Care
Target Market’s Problem: Your skin is sensitive. Most fragrance-filled moisturizers are too aggressive.
Running Shoes
Target Market’s Problem: Running on cement is painful. It means more shin splints, more injuries, and more breaks.
See how this works?
Right now we’re just talking about your target market and the relevant problem they’re facing.
So…
What problem does your business solve for its dream customers?
Step 4. Identify Your Solution & Value
You know the problem your target marketing is facing.
The next step is to identify clearly the solution that you offer and the value that it provides.
Keep in mind — value and solution are two different things.
The solution you provide is the actual mechanism. At ClickFunnels, our mechanism is our sales funnels and our software. So that’s our solution.
But the value we provide is: more leads and more sales easily… without relying on a high-cost tech team.
Let’s continue with the examples we started with in Step 3…
CRM
Target Market’s Problem: Your sales team is great. But leads keep falling through the cracks, inefficiencies abound, and you’re losing both time and money (even though you’ve got great salespeople).
Your Solution: An easy-to-use CRM with every feature and integration your team could possibly need.
Your Value: Increase sales team efficiency and effectiveness to improve the business’ bottom line revenue.
Website Builder
Target Market’s Problem: Your business rocks. But no one knows it. Word of mouth has got you this far. But what’s the next step?
Your Solution: An easy-to-use website builder that allows you to create a website without hiring or relying on a tech team.
Your Value: More online brand awareness for your budding business… which means more leads, sales, and revenue.
Skin-Care
Target Market’s Problem: Your skin is sensitive. Most fragrance-filled moisturizers are too aggressive.
Your Solution: Fragrance-free and plant-based moisturizer.
Your Value: Skin that glows and will remain beautiful even as you age.
Running Shoes
Target Market’s Problem: Running on cement is painful. It means more shin splints, more injuries, and more breaks.
Your Solution: Running shoes with ground-breaking technology that will help avoid shin splints.
Your Value: More running, faster, with fewer injuries and shin splints.
When you’re creating your own solution and value statements and trying to differentiate between the two, it might be useful to think of this graphic…
Don’t sell people the flower… sell people a fire-throwing version of themselves.
That is, sell them the end result they’ll achieve by implementing your solution.
Step 5. Craft Your One-Sentence Pitch
Now that you’ve identified the problem you solve, the solution you offer, and the value you provide, it’s time to craft your one-sentence pitch.
This is the first sentence of your elevator pitch and it has a very simple format:
I help [target market] achieve [value] by doing [solution]
Here are some examples!
CRM
One-Sentence Pitch — I help sales teams achieve greater efficiency and effectiveness by offering a CRM that keeps leads flowing and converting.
Website Builder
One-Sentence Pitch — I help brick-and-mortar businesses improve their brand awareness by building beautiful websites.
Skin-Care
One-Sentence Pitch — I help women with sensitive skin increase their confidence by providing moisturizers that keep delicate skin beautiful, fresh, and nearly impervious to aging.
Running Shoes
One-Sentence Pitch — I help amateur runners run further and faster, more comfortably, by providing the best running shoes that science has to offer.
See how this works?
Give it a go yourself!
And don’t forget to get feedback on this from other people you trust. This is the first sentence of your elevator pitch. So nailing it is very important.
Step 6. Plug-In a Quick Story
You’ve told the person who you are and what you do with your one-sentence pitch.
If you did this right — and if they’re a part of your target market — you’ve piqued their curiosity and earned yourself a few more spare moments of their attention.
Now what?
Now you want to tell a quick story to build credibility, as well as restate your problem, your solution, and the value you provide.
Here are some examples…
CRM
One-Sentence Pitch — I help sales teams achieve greater efficiency and effectiveness by offering a CRM that keeps leads flowing and converting.
Quick Story — One of my most recent clients estimated that they were losing $1,000 per day just because of their poorly organized sales data. They signed up with me for just $200 per month and now they’re growing and thriving. It’s totally changed their business for the better.
Website Builder
One-Sentence Pitch — I help brick-and-mortar businesses improve their brand awareness by building beautiful websites.
Quick Story — I’ll never forget one of my favorite customers who signed up in a last-ditch effort to save their business right when foot traffic had drastically depleted in their city. They built their website, did some basic SEO optimization, and now they’re almost entirely operating online and they’re making more money than they ever have before.
Skin-Care
One-Sentence Pitch — I help women with sensitive skin increase their confidence by providing moisturizers that keep delicate skin beautiful, fresh, and nearly impervious to aging.
Quick Story — One woman came to me and said that everything she tried didn’t work, even the stuff that everyone was telling her to try. It always resulted in dry skin, acne, and sometimes even rashes. She started to believe it was a problem with her, not her products. Then she tried my moisturizer and everything changed. It works perfectly. She’s increased her confidence and has never felt better in her own skin.
Running Shoes
One-Sentence Pitch — I help amateur runners run further and faster, more comfortably, by providing the best running shoes that science has to offer.
Quick Story — One runner I know came to me after suffering from ongoing stress fractures for more than 6 months. They’d started to feel like running as an exercise just wasn’t in the cards for them. Then I introduced them to my new running shoes. They were nervous at first because they had such bad experiences in the past. But they tried them on, went for a run, and all went well. They kept running in them over the next few days, the next few weeks, and then into months. 6 months later they came to me and told me that the shoes had totally changed their life. They were running further, faster… and with absolutely no injuries whatsoever.
Check out the video below to learn more about how to craft a compelling story for your elevator pitch…
Step 7. Call To Action
The goal of an elevator pitch is to get someone to take action.
So don’t forget to include a CTA at the end of your pitch.
This could be something as simple as, “I’d like to do the same for you” or “What would you think of getting signed up today?”
But the best elevator pitches also include…
- Urgency — Why should people sign up right now? People are procrastinators and they’ll wait to take action if you let them. Make sure to mention if you only have a certain number of spots available or of if the offer you’re promoting is going away in a certain amount of time.
- Risk Reversal — When people are right on the cusp of taking action… but they’re still unsure, it’s often because they’re in a risk-averse mindset. They don’t want to take a risk… even if they do want the benefit you’re offering them. You can reverse risk by offering a money-back guarantee.
So a great call to action at the end of an elevator pitch would look something like this…
- I’d love to do the same for you. And we’re offering our service at 30% off right now. But that offer only lasts until tomorrow. So it’s important to get the ball rolling sooner rather than later. And don’t worry — if things don’t work out like we think they will, we offer a 30-day money-back guarantee, so there’s absolutely no risk on your shoulders. What do ya say?
Craft your own!
Put your one-sentence pitch at the beginning, then your quick story, and finish with your call to action.
Now you’ve got a killer elevator pitch!
Final Thoughts
Elevator pitches are a great way to get your foot in the door with potential customers, as well as investors, employers, and more.
The key is to keep it short, sweet, and to the point. Remember to focus on what you do, who you help, and the results you produce.
If you can do that, you’ll be well on your way to giving a pitch that packs a punch.