The Elevator Pitch

Get your message across in 2 minutes or less!

The purpose of an "elevator" speech is to gain your listener's interest in the time it would take an elevator to reach the listener's floor - usually about 16 seconds - or 2 minutes at most for a chance meeting with a potential customer outside of an elevator. Working from the inside out, focus on answering "How does my listener benefit from what I offer better than anyone else?" Now, answer that question in one sentence that you can state in 30 seconds or less. That is the core message of your elevator speech.

The real "elevator" in this little speech is how you elevate your potential customer's awareness of how your products or services can help them. The most important part of any pitch is the listening that you do before you open your mouth. Target this pitch to a need you know is front-of-mind for your audience. Eavesdrop on people's conversations for a clue. In a meeting or presentation, watch their facial reactions to the speaker's remarks on issues your business can help with.

You rarely deliver this speech out of the blue ... or in an elevator. Either you recognize the person standing next to you and already know who he/she is and how they can benefit from your products or services, or you've heard them talking about some need they have that you can fill.

The "elevator" speech must be compact. You must memorize it and be able to state all of it or the core of it with a confident expression while taking your business card from your pocket and putting it in your listener's hand. That means you rehearse it until you can literally make the speech when woken out of a sound sleep. (Keep a business card under your pillow.)

Fill out the elements of the speech outlined ... and practice, practice, practice!

Elements of the "elevator" speech

1. Introduction:
Hello, I'm [your name] of [business name].