Need some tips to improve your elevator pitch? Hopefully these expert suggestions will point you in the right direction.
1. Know your audience and how much time you’ll have
Make every pitch specific to the person or group you are speaking to. Highlight how your business will match their needs and interests.
It’s also crucial to know how much time you will have to deliver your pitch. Here are some guidelines for what should be included in different pitch lengths: – A 30-second pitch should convey enough information to grab their attention.
- A two-minute pitch peaks their interest and tells a longer story.
- A five-minute pitch gives a rough outline of your business idea and implementation.
- An hour-long pitch gets into the finer details of your business concept and team.
2. Keep it simple, stupid
The widely hailed acronym K.I.S.S. (“keep it simple, stupid,” not the band) is a great motto to follow when you’re drafting business pitches. Don’t get technical or go on tangents: it’s critical to keep on point or else you’ll bore your audience.
If you can address the following elements in 30 seconds, you’re well on your way!
- In two sentences, describe the problem that exists and the solution you’re proposing.
- Next, explain your business’s potential for growth, and why you are the one to lead it.
3. Tell a story
It’s essential to weave a story into your pitch, no matter the length. People, even numbers-oriented business folks, connect to stories more than facts and figures. The art of writing a great pitch is telling a captivating story while sprinkling in relevant data.
As the late Maya Angelou famously said, “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” Stories make an emotional imprint: they’re crucial to your pitch.
4. Know your metrics
That being said, you must demonstrate that you understand the metrics of your business and market to convince anyone to support your venture. Here are some metrics you should have an expert understanding of before drafting a pitch:
- Give best, moderate, and worse case financial scenarios.
- Be SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-related) with your budget goals.
- Describe your competition and explain how your idea is different and advantageous.
5. Listen to the questions you receive after the pitch
Make sure to write down the questions you receive after your pitch. Usually these questions ask for clarification on something that was not well understood during the presentation. If you make sure to revise your pitch to make these points easier to comprehend, you will get fewer questions after your next presentation and your audience will probably be more excited by your ideas. Score!
What do you think are the necessary ingredients to a successful business pitch? Share your advice with us in the comments below.
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