Elevator Pitches?
Elevator pitches are often considered to be a fundamental part of networking as a small business owner; however, a presentation which doesn’t immediately communicate “what’s in it for me?” to the audience is unlikely to be very successful. Despite this many entrepreneurs make this basic mistake and are therefore doomed to failure.
Elevator pitches were once only used by people who were starting their own business and looking to approach vice’s for funding. However, this kind of presentation is helpful for almost anybody who wants to market themselves and their skills, and is also useful to people who find themselves unemployed or recently out of college and beginning their job search. Networking pitches have also become a common tool in marketing and sales efforts, as well as a great public relations tool.
Entrepreneurs with businesses often differ about what they believe as the most important element, to get right although many professionals will reason that developing a solid business plan ought to be the initial step. A well-crafted business plan will lay out every detail and strategies, includes projections for revenue and spending, and will be reviewed at length by bankers and vice’s. However without a decent elevator pitch it’s very difficult to have the meetings you need to impress people with your business plan so I would debate that the elevator pitch is at least as important as your business plan.
Everyone is a potential client but that does not mean they want to be stopped in an elevator or conference floor by someone who is looking for work. Make sure you smile and be approachable you want to come across as a regular type of guy who is approachable. This provides more opportunity, especially at networking groups, for people to actually want to speak to you. It’s important that you let your enthusiasm show when delivering your pitch. If you can’t show enthusiasm for your own business how can you expect to get investors to be enthusiastic about it?
Your presentation should always aim to solve a problem for your audience if you’re listening to a pitch you are much more likely to want to have a meeting if you can see how the business could solve a problem for you. Make sure you always provide people with solutions and not just a list of services. If you are able to think quickly then it may be possible to tailor the problem you offer to solve to the nature of the business you are talking too.
