Why "Elevator Pitches" Help Win Customers

By David Coursey
Reprinted with permission from Microsoft Small Business Center

If I asked everyone who works at your company to tell me about the business, how many different answers do you think I'd hear? I'm willing to bet I'd hear about as many different stories as you have employees.

That's unfortunate because your employees could be your best public relations machine. They are out in the community, meeting potential customers, suppliers and others who can impact your business both for better and worse. Why not equip your staff with the information they need to make a good impression? No business can have too many friends and your employees are just the people to help make them.

I am not talking about turning all your employees into salespeople, though I guess, in a low-pressure way, that's precisely what I am saying. Everyone on your payroll should be able to provide a short introduction to your company, ideally geared to the interests of the person that they've just met. Follow that with an exchange of business cards and you now have one more person who has a favorable impression of your company and knows someone who works there. If appropriate, your employee then passes the contact information along for appropriate follow-up, potentially turning a chance encounter into a sale.

To accomplish this, everyone in your company needs to learn what I call the "elevator pitch" and be able to recite some version of it whenever it makes sense to do so. The elevator pitch is a quick description of what your company does and why your company is special. It's so named because the pitch is brief enough that it can be delivered during a typical elevator ride. Its shorthand for "tell me why I should care about your company, and do it in 30 seconds or less." There is no perfect elevator pitch and every company's will be different. It may be something like these:

"Northwind Traders is the only floral and gift service that guarantees delivery anywhere within 12 hours, using a network of affiliates and delivering quality gifts at affordable prices."

"Whatever IT is, you can find it on eBay, the world's largest marketplace for private buyers and sellers with more than 100 million users worldwide."

"Contoso Ltd. is the dealership that makes you feel like a luxury car owner, no matter how long ago you purchased your car, thanks to 24-hour service and guaranteed repair appointments, free loan cars, and certified technicians."

There are three things that need to be in an elevator pitch:

1. What your company does.

2. Why it's better/different than your competitors first, only, best, largest, service-focused, whatever that is.

3. Where to get more info. "I'd be glad to send you a business plan," "Our Web site has all the details," or "Can I set up a meeting to tell you more?"

The elevator pitch needs to be fact-based, interesting, and give the listener a reason to remember your company. It's not a sales pitch, at least not directly, but a verbal message that expands upon the business card the listener is about to receive.

Elevator pitches are not, however, a one-way street. Your employees need to understand they should be both good spokespeople and good listeners, too. If you give someone a pitch, you're obligated to listen to theirs, too. This shouldn't be a chore, however, because you may find their pitch every bit as useful as you hope they will find yours.

David Coursey is CEO of his own small consulting business. He has written for numerous technology publications, Web sites and blogs. He can be reached at david@coursey.com.