Craft Your "Elevator Pitch" & Make Others Feel Important

This year's annual conference is in the city that never sleeps, New York City - lucky you! The all important all day session starts in 5 minutes and you enter the elevator to take you downstairs to the conference. You enter the elevator with someone you've never met before and they immediately ask you. . ."Hi. . .What do you do..?" Come on now, you've got to answer quickly - What do you say in less than one minute before the elevator reaches the lobby? If you're anything like me (and most other Coach Nick clients), you go with a statement that focuses on the other person, the one that means something to them. That, my friends, is a perfect example of one of the strongest forces in sales and business: your "Elevator Pitch."

You've been to networking events when you go around the room and people introduce themselves - How does everyone (and I mean everyone) introduce themselves? Come on, you know. "Hi..I'm...I do this...I do that...I..." Like me, you've fallen into a deep sleep after listening to the tenth consecutive person introduce themselves in the same way as everyone else and in a way that's only interesting to them that you’ve said to yourself, “There’s got to be a better way!”

There absolutely is a better way! First, make it a point to always make others feel important. A second Coach Nick rule is: Attract attention and engage the prospect. You want to say something that will elicit a response along the lines of: "That sounds interesting; tell me more."

To help you position yourself to "stand out" from the rest of the crowd while making others feel important use a consistent position statement in all your communications (e.g. "elevator pitch," written correspondence, presentations, etc). The position statement for your "Elevator Pitch" should take the following direction:
 

• be different from everyone

• be focused on the other person

• be focused on benefits rather than features

• be certain to keep the spotlight on the other person the entire time

Hey Coach, what should that statement be? Here's a powerful sales technique you can use to define your value proposition and create an elevator pitch in one minute or less. It will position you and your services perfectly with the ideal clients you seek.

This one-minute positioning consists of two parts. Each is essential to the positioning process:

Part 1 - "You know how companies and individuals like you. . ."

Part 2 - "What we do is provide and support you by. . ."
 

The first part begins with a “You know how” statement, such as “You know how XXXX executives like yourself are always looking for YYY?” Use an analogy, a competitor's name, current event in the news or success story to make the first part of the "elevator pitch" come alive. Here is a “Coach Nick” example: You've heard the quote, "All things being equal, people will buy from those they like & those most like them . . ."

The power of this opening resides in two important elements of sales psychology: focusing on the prospect, because it is far more important for you to be interested than interesting, and emphasizing your understanding of the prospect's opportunities, challenges and problems. Remember the words of Paul Karasik, "Prospects don't care how much you know until they know how much you care."

The second part of the "elevator pitch" answers the most important question in any prospect's mind: "What's in it for me? " Before they become clients, prospects want to know how you and your services will help them achieve their goals. To make sure the second part of your "elevator pitch" is strong, write it, say it aloud, and then ask yourself, "So what? Does this mean anything to the person that I'm telling . . .? "

Therefore, you would follow up with a “What We Do” benefit statement for part two of your "elevator pitch." “What we do for you is ZZZ. . .” Here is another “Coach Nick” example: “What we do is work with sales professionals & teams like yours to provide you with the tools to become more likable and more like your prospects in order to produce record breaking revenues this year.”

Your prospects are always tuned into one radio station and its not Howard Stern - It's called "W.I.F.M." "W.I.F.M." is an acronym for "What's In It For Me. . ." In order to stay focused on the elements that are important to your prospect identify the characteristics of your best clients and enumerate your firm’s unique benefits to them. Ask your team, “Why would my ideal prospect talk with me?” What makes us different from everyone else? What would our prospects and customers do/use if we were not around? "What's the one thing that our customers tell us repeatedly that they want us to do more of because they value it so much?" Oh, and always ask yourself after you've stated your "What we do for you.." statement, "So What..?" so it serves as the ultimate gauge for relevance to the other person.

During competitive times, it’s harder and harder to close on qualified business prospects. Furthermore, it's harder and harder to make yourself stand out amongst all the clutter and noise that your buyers are experiencing. But the more you make yourself valuable to your contacts, the more you’ll stand out from the rest of the competition. When he or she is ready to “buy,” they’ll be calling you for their next order because your "Elevator Pitch" allowed you to stand out in their minds. So remember the power of an effective "Elevator Pitch" - or keep putting your audience to sleep in those networking events when you introduce yourself like everyone else!

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