Your Elevator Pitch Developer

Transcription

1 Your Elevator Pitch Developer Hi, Great to see that you have decided to give your business a new edge. Having a great pitch can be life-changing, so lets read on! Over the last decade we have seen many changes in how business works. Smart Companies innovate constantly and change fast. Innovation and flexibility are a must. Finding the right business partners, absolutely essential! As a small business owner you are always networking, publishing and promoting. Now you also have to split your time into online and offline activities. How can you present your business attractively and most efficiently? Everything you do, begins with a clear vision or clarity of your business. Certainty is Power as Tony Robbins likes to say. Its true! Once you are clear about the basics of your business, the rest becomes much easier to do. The Elevator Pitch is essential for your success: Network with ease Find great partners Receive more Confidence and Motivation Come up with new ideas and products easily Laser focus your Marketing and Sales Create the structure of your most effective homepage: (Your Homepage is an extended Elevator Ptitch)

2 Why Pitching Works During an event in Sydney I saw an entrepreneur on stage. He spoke about increasing his annual sales from $ to $1 Million, by only changing how he introduces his business. He said, by simply evoking curiosity and interest when asked What do you do? ; he made new potential connections that were never possible before. There is certainly more to his great success than just his pitch, but think about how often you get asked What do you do?. I am not sure about you, but the stuff that I hear is often pretty boring, complex or too vague to understand. How do you evoke interest, spike discussions or build partnerships like this? The power of a great pitch; connecting with people, any time and place - online or offline)! The search for the perfect pitch I have found many different versions of the Elevator Pitch, long & short, simple and complex, funny and serious. I have tried out about double this number myself until I developed my perfect pitch. Believe me, in the beginning its like back in school reciting a poem. After a lot of testing and analysis, I took the best bits of each and put them in a singular framework. To shortcut my long journey, I developed this process for you, so you can easily create your own Elevator Pitch. Note: I am not implying to have a guarantee or magicalk solution for your business. A great pitch is a result of hard work and practise. What you do with this document can impact your business massively. I promise you it works, if you put in the effort. Close your office door, shut down your s and focus on this for the next hour. Get it done!

3 Lets get started! First of all, the time span in which someone decides whether or not they like you and your idea, is about seconds. This means we want to develop a very brief overview of your business highlights. Make it short, sharp and punchy! A high impact Elevator Pitch has the following structure: 1. The One-Liner to hook them in 2. The Reason, why you are in business 3. Your target persona, is what your customers look like 4. The problem that you solve for your customers 5. Your solution to the problem and how you differentiate 6. Proof, that you can deliver 7. Call to Action, to lead people to the next step My pitch example: (1. One-Liner) We build a complete picture of a business online, because a website alone is a total waste of money. (2. The Reason) In the last decade the internet has grown significantly. (3. Target persona) Small business owners who are not tech savvy, (4. Problem) have difficulties to cope with the hundreds of different possibilities online and how to use them strategically. (5. Solution) Our program works with the business owner to build a Complete-Online-Presence that generates leads and sales, not just a website. (6. Proof) Our biggest success has seen a 200% increase in sales within 1 year. (7. Call-to-Action) If your website is only bringing in very few to no new leads, you should get it analysed by us for free.

4 To create your pitch you have to know your business. It is important that you are able to hold the attention of your audience, no matter if you have 10 seconds when just passing by or 3 hours on a flight. The pitch gives you flexibility, because you really know what you are talking about with confidence and ease. In the next couple of pages you will learn how to construct your Elevator Pitch step-by-step. 1. The One-Liner It s great to have a little kick-off for your pitch, so you can test your audience and hook them in. Your pitch becomes more of a conversation, so you will not feel like you are reciting a poem. This is also important for your homepage, the One-Liner has to be at the top, for the same reasons. My example: We build a complete picture of a business online, because a website alone is a total waste of money. Here I say what I do is building a businesses online presence. To evoke curiosity I say that we believe that a website alone is a waste of money. I consciously avoid boring common phrases like web-design or online marketing and I introduce my differentiation as complete and not just a website. Alright! It s your turn: Shortly say what you Do not use industry standard and branch specific names Combine this with your differentiation or a very interesting fact Use humor, creativity or be super boring like an accountant, when that suits you. Boring can be interesting too, but you have make it fun. It is okay, if this is a bit difficult. Just skip it for now. When you have done the rest of the process this will be much easier.

5 2. Your Reason What really interests people is Why you do what you do, rather than What. The second thing that crabs attention is change. People chase that which runs from them and want what they can t have. We want to combine those two things now. Try to think of what has changed over the last 5-10 years that made your business possible. My example: In the last decade the Internet has grown significantly This is just a sumup of the whole picture, but most people understand what I mean. I have researched several facts and stories on this, and can talk passionately about this topic for hours. Your Elevator pitch needs to be like an accordion: short, middle, long and everything in between. You need to think about every single aspect and write it down. What has changed politically, socially, demographically and so on. So that people are interested in your product or idea? Write it down. Take the best and most interesting aspect from above and write it below.

6 3. Target persona It is really important to think about a real person. We don t want to describe a target market like Male, years old in Melbourne, Vic. This provides little to no value. It is much better to describe your ideal customer. Job, interests, Life goals, work ethic, position in the company hierarchy, life and day-to-day challanges etc. This will give you insight into how, what and where you have to communicate with your customers. Describe your target persona: Now try to answer the following questions. What can I do to help those people? What are common things I hear from those people? E.g. A website is just a business card online. A personal connection is always better than this online stuff. What are the most common hurdles for your persona to overcome when buying your products? Describe your persona in one sentence or phrase:

7 4. The Problem The problem that you solve for your customers is very important. The bigger the problem, the more likely they are to take action. My example: have difficulties to cope with the hundreds of different possibilities online and how to use them strategically. There are basically two parts to it: Firstly, it is really challenging to find your way through the Internet-jungle. Secondly, it is significantly more difficult to use the online world strategically for your benefit. As before, I thought a lot about this aspect of my business and I have enough information to talk about it for hours. Write down the challenges and problems of your target persona. What does a certain issue really mean for them? What pain does it cause them? (Don t stop until you have described at least 10) Construct one sentence with the main problem: (describe it picturesquely and build impact.)

8 5. Your Solution Now that you have stated a problem, everyone is waiting to hear the solution. To further increase the impact of your solution, combine it with your differentiation. My example: Our program works with the business owner to build a Complete-Online-Presence that generates leads and sales, not just a website. Combine your solution with your differentiation: Product name: Product features: Differenziation: Summarize in one sentence:

9 6. Proof: Now we want to prove that what you are talking about is not some delusional thought. Think about your best example. Something that you are proud of and shows that what you do works. My example: Our biggest success has seen a 200% increase in sales within 1 year. What is yours? 7. Call-to-Action This is the most common mistake I come across online and offline. Most people do not tell people what to do next. If someone has listened to you up to this part of the pitch or has read your 600 word article, do not leave them out in the rain. Tell them what you want from them. People want to subconsciously be led. This doesn t mean you can sell something now. You still need to provide more value. Where and how can I learn more from you? My example: If your website is only bringing in very few to no new leads, you should get it analysed by us for free. If they say yes, I will give them my business card and tell them to go on my homepage and look for the free Online Presence Discovery Report. If there is no connection in after my pitch, I move on. No business card, no small talk. I find another person to talk to. That s business networking. Your Call-to-Action:

10 Well Done! You made it. You gave some great thought into the most important fundamentals of your business. This alone gives you a significant advantage over most people. If you haven t finished your One-Liner in the beginning, then now is the time to go back and complete it. Now, there is only one thing left to do. You have to put it all together in you own Elevator Pitch. I have dedicated a page for that at the end of this document. Print it out so you can use it easily. How to take the next step? If you know your business well, the Elevator Pitch was probably a relatively easy task. For most people it is quite a challenge and this is the best part about this little exercise. Building your pitch gets you back in touch with the basics of your business and therefore gives you more confidence in what you do. How do you feel with this new knowledge? Do you think you would manage to give a killer response to someone asking you What you do? I am always looking forward to feedback. Shoot me an and go wild ;-) If you have any questions or problems with the process, then juts ask, I usually answer within 24h even on the weekend. sebastian@neoentrepreneur.com Once you are ready, keep the momentum going and discover more tools and tips in Neo s Ressouce Centre. Pitch your business to the world! Sebastian Co-founder Neo Entrepreneur

11 My Elevator Pitch Pitching Tips: Add a catchy hook: Add something to your pitch that people will remember. Be creative; almost provocative. Evoke a reaction... Create emotions:... and do not fear judgement from other people. If you say something with passion and enthusiasm, you will get both positive and negative reactions. Simplicity is key: Cut out all jargon and difficult terminology. Get to the point quickly! Perfect your pitch all the time! Pitch whenever you can and if you don t get the right reaction, go back on your desk and rewrite your pitch. You are the prize: Do not pitch as if you are desperate! If you pitch to someone, you have to have the attitude that says This happens with or without you.