BY aarrieta
An elevator pitch is what you have to tell a potential investor or strategic partner in order to get a meeting where you can make a deeper presentation of the topic.
It is called elevator pitch because it should be possible to expose your idea to the investor on an elevator ride. This is why every minute and every word counts. You should be able to expose your whole idea in three minutes and in less than 200 words.
To make it work and so nothing stays out it is necessary to structure it and to practice it.
Some tips:
– You have to be able to cover all the basic questions on any presentation, who, what, how, where, when, why (in any order but with an order)
– Classic sales tip: first you have to sell yourself, then the company (in case of looking for an investor for a team idea), then the product or project. Always focus on the benefit for your audience.
– Talk about you and your team, who you are. This is usually the most important part of an entrepreneurship, emphasize the previous experience that can be useful for the project and who you end up being involved in it.
– Add brief personal comments and anecdotes that can illustrate your values or you way of thinking, this generates empathy and make people listen to you.
– Relate from inside out or vice versa in an organized manner: the industry to which your project belongs, which is the comparable that somebody may be familiar with (to establish that it is a profitable industry and that it is developed) and who you would want to be like, also talk about what differentiates you from the leader and what are the similarities. You can also provide an idea of size of your project compared to that leader.
– Talk about the plan superficially, vision, mission, measurable objectives, time frames, etc. Without going into details but in order to provide an idea of how ambitious the plan is and to be able to catch interest.
– Explain clearly what you need from them.
– Explain the product or the service in the simplest possible way, without focusing much on details (which everybody loves to explain, but we have to leave them for another moment) and don’t forget to talk about the benefits for the consumers (you value proposal)
– Show yourself open to suggestions and ask for advice.
– Show enthusiasm and passion for what you do.
– Show yourself as you are, don’t try to Project a different image than who you are, since it will be a short term strategy, honesty and integrity in higher valued than the lack of some skill.