“So What Do You Do?”

This can be the make or break question that every business can face. Have you and your team mastered the answer to that question yet?

Master the answer and it could be that it provides the key to the big doors that you have found closed in the past. Get it wrong and they will stay closed, perhaps, forever.

Everyday when you are networking, marketing, selling or just out and about, you will meet people who could use your products or services or who know others who could. However, unless you tell them what you do in clear and simple language those opportunities could be lost. The art of nurturing those opportunities can be helped by developing what is known as an ‘elevator pitch’ for your business. Do you have one for yours?

For those of your who are unfamiliar with the term, it is a short description of your business that enables potential customers or people who know potential customers to better understand who you work with and the value that you deliver.

WARNING!! Too often, people and businesses will describe themselves by what they do and not with reference to their customers.

“I’m a builder” “I’m a blogger” “I’m a printer.” “I’m a consultant.” “I’m a marketeer.”
“I’m an accountant” “I’m a life coach” “I’m a mortgage broker.” “I’m self-employed.”

The hazard here is that, when you lead with what you do, many people will immediately make up their mind about you as they assume they know what you do. Perception is everything. It doesn’t matter if you are the best in the world at what you do – if people have already made up their mind it’s hard to change it. And if that’s the case, the last thing you want to do in your elevator pitch is turn off a lot of people who already think they know what you do.

Think about it this way: Theodore Levitt, American economist and professor at Harvard Business School, once said:

“People don’t buy 1/4” drills, they buy 1/4” holes.”

When you position yourself by the products or services you sell, you immediately put yourself into the same category as your competitors and turn yourself into a commodity and are, therefore, destined to compete on price. How many other web designers, builders, printers, bloggers, marketers, IT consultants, coaches out there are there?

Here’s a couple of examples that I have used that have produced great results. They are customer focused and are designed to attract the right customers and engage them:

“I work with businesses who are struggling to sell their products/services into large corporates.”

“I help entrepreneurs structure their businesses for rapid growth.”

“I help executives get the most of their teams and hit their targets.”

Elevator pitches designed to attract customers must have two idea in them. One, they must define your target customer and, two, they must help prospective customers understand the value they can receive from your product or service.

Here’s some tips on writing your elevator pitch:

• 1. Focus on Results not Products, Services or How You Do It
. Remember, customers don’t care about how and what you do. But they do care deeply about their business and they results that they are looking for.
• 2. KISS – Keep it Simple, Senorita. One breath or a couple of sentences should be all you should need. Limit your initial introduction. If your potential customer wants to know more, they’ll ask.
• 3. Identify Your Target Customer Group. Clearly identify your target market
. Remember, you can have different flavours of your pitch depending on who you are talking to .
• 4. No Cheese! Make sure your introduction is conversational. No slogans or ads. .
• 5. Practice, Practice and Market Research it
. You don’t have to get it right first time so go out there and test it on your customers and contacts and listen to their feedback.

Once, you’ve got a ‘prototype’ developed, share it with your team. I’m sure they’ll also help you refine it and I’m sure they’ll find it useful too.

Hope that helped.

So, what’s your elevator pitch?

Thanks to Vince Alongi for the photo