Elevator Pitch
Dear Erin,
Thank you for sending that picture of the cat this morning. It brightened my day!!
My day ended on a high note, as I attended a “speed networking” event at our local Chamber of Commerce. Jenny and I were there to promote our leadership program for mid-career professionals and create some buzz. We received lots of interest!
It left me wondering whether you had your own “elevator pitch” down? An elevator pitch is a short and sweet description of your organization that you would use to introduce yourself and what you do. It gets its name from the notion that you might hop onto an elevator with a potential donor, investor, dancer - anyone you think could help your cause. You have their full attention for…. well, you’re not sure. They may get off on the next floor, or they may ride all the way to to top with you. You have no idea how long you have, except that you are pretty certain it’s not going to be longer than a minute or two.
A great elevator pitch gives a description and one or two key points within 30 seconds. If you still have the person’s attention at the 30 second mark, expand on what you just said with another sentence or two. Make it as compelling as possible so that the person wants to hear more. Either they ask for or agree to a follow up conversation or, if you hit a home run, they might ask you to step off the elevator to talk some more right then and there.
It is hard to put together a good pitch, but it’s near impossible to think one up on the spot. Be prepared. Write it down, try it out, change it up, practice at home, ask for some feedback from your friends. Create a variation or two: as a nonprofit, you’ll definitely want one geared towards funders specifically and then maybe a different one if you are speaking with people in the dance community. A third version might speak more generally - think your grandmother’s friends. If you had a minute to tell them what your organization is all about, what would you say?
A couple of best practices: be clear. No fancy words or jargon. Focus on one or two key points. What do you want them to remember? Make it compelling - something that leaves them thinking “well said” or “wow, I never thought of it that way before.” Keep it short and sweet. Front load it with the most important information - remember, they can hop off the elevator at any moment and cut you off. Or, if I’m being honest, out in the real world, they will get bored easily and stop listening to you regardless of how long the interaction lasts.
You can always go into more detail if prompted or if they look interested. Leave them wanting more, not wondering when you are going to stop talking at them. (I speak from experience here…)
Try to include an ask and end with a call to action. “We’re looking for sponsors to get behind the festival - can I call you tomorrow to discuss the opportunity?” For Jenny and me tonight, we would say, “We are accepting applications for the fall cohort starting in May. Here’s my card with the website; I’d appreciate it if you would pass along the invitation to anyone in your company who would fit the program.”
(It goes without saying that you have business cards at these networking events. You have some, right? Try to always have at least 3 in your wallet or something you can access quickly whenever you need to pull one out. One lady tonight had a “virtual” business card on her phone. IDK exactly how that works, but being in SF, you will probably want to have that as well.)
You might kill two birds with one stone and work on what’s called a “positioning statement” in marketing. A positioning statement is your own description of who you are, who you serve, why you are unique and how that positions you relative to your competitors. It’s a bit awkward grammatically and doesn’t really roll off the tongue like a good elevator pitch would, but it’s a codified way of boiling your business down to a few key points.
Here’s the basic structure; you fill in the parentheses with info about your business:
For (these kinds of customers)
who want (insert what your customer is looking for, what problem they want solved),
my organization is a (describe what kind of organization we are)
that (what is it you do).
Unlike (competitors),
we (explain how you are different).
Here’s an example of how it might be filled out for Zappos:
For stylish, busy people
who want to purchase shoes online but are concerned about the hassle of returning them if they don’t fit,
Zappos is an online shoe store
that makes returning shoes you don’t want, for whatever reason, a breeze.
Unlike other online companies,
we aim to “deliver happiness” to our customers through our relentless focus on customer service.
You get the idea. See, it can feel a little forced, but it’s a nice construct for putting some words to who you are and why you are special. It might be worth working through first, and then use it to build that elevator pitch from it.
BTW, once you get this down, it’s going to be a lot easier talking with potential donors and even getting through those first few questions on ever grant application!!
Send more cat pictures. And let me know when you want to practice your pitch. I’m all ears.
Love, Mom
