The Ups and Downs of the Elevator Pitch!

Imagine you have 60 seconds to win that $1m contract and your dream
audience is standing next to you in an elevator.

Could you do it?

I recently had the pleasure of sitting with the team at Access Granted to do a podcast interview. At the end of the interview they asked for my elevator pitch for Fuelled.

I instantly froze and thought ‘why haven’t I prepared this?!’ After awkwardly bumbling away for a few minutes I finally managed to spurt out ‘Fuelled turns outstanding invoices into cash’. Face in hands, I was so disappointed in myself. I had wasted a perfect opportunity and could have done so much better had I been prepared.

Moral of the story – Don’t Be a Donna.

Having an ‘elevator pitch’ is crucial when it comes to thinking on your toes about your business offering. It’s the promotional pitch you use to tell people about yourself or your brand in the same amount of time it would take to ride an elevator.

There are endless opportunities to casually strike up a conversation about what it is that you do. So cue the Elevator Pitch!

Simple right?

Well, while it may sound simple to prepare an elevator pitch, there actually seem to be a few rules!

• Practice it but don’t preach it
• Keep it professional but not boring
• Cover all your points but keep it to the point
• Tell a story but not a novel
• Sell yourself but don’t over sell it

Feeling confused?
Well you are not alone! However, when putting my Fuelled elevator pitch together I did discover that the less confusing approach is to share your ‘Why’ not your ‘What’.

In her blog, Jules Schroeder from Forbes.com talks about a shift in business culture where people are buying based on ‘Why’ you do what you do rather than ‘What you do’.

Simply put, Jules’ advice was to prepare a short and a long elevator pitch; one for the first-floor ride and one for the multiple floor ride and no more than 30 to 60 seconds long.

She gives an overview of how you should construct your pitch:

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Introduce yourself

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Connect with your audience with something relatable by addressing the problem right straight away.

Mix in a bit of the ‘how’

End with a call to action

So, after reading Jules’ blog I’ve started to piece together my short elevator pitch and thought I’d share it with you. It still requires some furness and tweaking along the way but thats part of the journey.

‘I’m Donna, I work as the Head of Operations and Product Development at Fuelled.

Fuelled came to life as we could see how stressed business owners had become by cash flow gaps in their business. They are anxious about long payment terms, seasonal demands and looming tax just to name a few. Having cash tied up in unpaid invoices means they can’t take advantage of growth opportunities.

We wanted to take away these worries so came up with a smart way to plug the gaps by lending money against their unpaid invoices by using a online system that they could acess at anytime.

No one wants the 3rd degree or waste time in boring meetings so we made it easy to sign up for free via our website.

Donna Sorsa

Remember, being perfectly imperfect is ok. Each time you use your elevator pitch see how your audience reacts.

Did they understand why you do what you do?
Did they say ‘Oh I know someone who could use that service’ or ‘that’s a great idea’. Or
Did they stare at you blankly, fall asleep briefly or excuse themselves to the bathroom!

So dont be a Donna, be prepared, and enjoy the ups and downs of constructing your own elevator pitch!