Friday 19 April 2013

Writing an Elevator Speech

By Lori Buenavista


An elevator speech is a brief, concise justification of the function of your company, its products or services and the unique features that make it fascinating. You should be able to provide the speech in less time than it takes for an elevator to travel several floors-around 1 minute. It's crucial to have a well-written elevator speech; here's the way to write one.

Brainstorm

Find paper and pen and make four columns: Business Basics, Product/Services, Unique Value Proposition and Goals. Reply to the easy questions first. Under "Business Basics," list all the basic details about your small business. Below are a few inquiries to answer: What industry does your company get into? Where are you located? Now when was the business launched? Who owns the business? What services or products does the business offer? What awards or honors has your company received?

Now write about your company's products or services. Listed below are some inquiries to answer in this column: How many products/services do you really offer? Do other companies offer the same goods and services? Did your organization invent or develop the products/services? What components are utilized in your items? What do the services you provide include? How do people use your services or products?

Note down your distinct value propositions. Exactly what makes your company stand out amongst the competition? You might have just 1 unique value, or you could have several. Below are some possibilities: Lowest price, Largest selection, Exclusivity (Clients can't get your product or service somewhere else), Best quality, Domestically produced, Produced somewhere impressive (Italian watches, Persian rugs), Awards/Industry accolades, Longevity, Famous owner or advocate.

There are many other possible unique value propositions. Take into consideration what truly separates your business from the group. Jot down your results in column three. Lastly, note down your purpose. What's your own purpose for actually talking to people? Are you looking for sales? Investors? Just spreading the word about your business?

Put it all together. If you've created long lists in each column, you need to narrow it down a bit in order to fit in the entire elevator speech within just 60 seconds or so. Go through each column and write down what's there. Here's a good example: "XYZ Company is a significant player in the medical industry. Given that we initially opened our Salt Lake City, Utah research lab in 2008, our unnatural kidneys have saved the lives of countless clients.

Our founder, John Smith believes that our state-of-the art flexi-plastic is the best possible substance for artificial kidneys, and the best specialists in the country agreed: XYZ Company has achieved the Surgeon's Choice award for prosthetic organs for the last 4 years. In fact, we're recommended by the Surgeon General of America.

We focus on just one product: artificial kidneys, and we're the only manufacturer in America.




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