What's An Elevator Pitch? 2005 Qtr 3
Imagine that you’re making a sales call on your biggest prospect, someone you’ve been trying to get to see for months. Their offices are on the 37th floor. And, as you’re getting on the elevator in the lobby, in walks the Vice President who is responsible for making the decision to buy your product.
After exchanging pleasantries, he asks you, “So, tell me, Anne, just what does your product do that’s so different? What can it do for me?”
You’ve got 37 floors on the elevator to tell this important prospect why your brand is best suited for his company. Where do you begin? With features and benefits? With cost savings? With how great your customer service is? The great warranty? All of the above? None of the above? This is why you need a defined “elevator pitch” for your brand.
Of course, it doesn’t have to actually take place on an elevator, but being able to communicate the essence of your brand’s value proposition (the reason to buy) in just a few short sentences is critical.
Developing an elevator pitch for your brand is a difficult, but necessary task. Don’t confuse it with a company mission statement or anything like that, either. Your elevator pitch is a short speech on your brand’s value proposition — its promise to deliver.
It’s easy to talk about companies: Ford builds cars and trucks. Nike markets athletic shoes and apparel. Hilton operates hotels. But certainly these brands — Ford, Nike and Hilton — are much richer and more meaningful to those who engage them than a simple description about what they do. If they weren’t distinctive, then we’d all just buy on price, right?
Here’s a hint on developing a value proposition (elevator pitch) for your brand: turn it around and look at your brand from the customer perspective. Find out what’s really important to your target audience. Attach emotions to the discussion. Figure out how your brand needs to connect. You’ll quickly see that there’s so much more to a brand than features and benefits.
Making your brand meaningful to customers and prospects means getting its core message delivered in a brief, impactful and memorable manner. It begins with an elevator pitch.
Take this simple “elevator pitch” test. Does everyone in your organization know what your brand’s value proposition is? Can they give the same, meaningful, elevator pitch? There’s a simple way to find out: give ’em a test. It’s a simple test, really, with just one “finish the sentence” question:
___________________ is a product/service that ___________________.
Try it and you might be surprised at how your team describes your brand to customers, family and friends, suppliers, investors and others. It may be time to develop that “elevator pitch” and make sure that everyone in your organization is in sync.
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