You know what the elevator pitch is…it is the little talk you give about your career or new product or new company, all condensed into the time it takes you to ride up in the elevator. So not much time.
Done well, every word matters and there’s no wasted you-know’s and um’s.
High level friends, venture capitalists and others who have A-D-D love elevator speeches. Concentration being what it is today, the shorter the better. Hey, what about those Minnesota Twins!!
I have a new idea. I am calling it the Visual Elevator Speech, copyrighted by GLH.
Every business leader I know has a constant issue with his team not being able to communicate what it is they do. Staff management types recite the company mission, (maybe), but leave out important parts. Sales people do a feature dump on prospects…”No, YOU LISTEN, here is what I am selling!!”
Every once in a while a top leader will get his team together to “get back to basics.” These meetings typically take four hours or, if moderated by an outside consultant type person, four days. At the end we all sing Kum-Bay-Yah.
Instead try this.
Design ten 4 by 6 postcards, only the art side. You must have a picture and at least three sentences+your company’s logo, your kicker text. Use Google images and find the picture you want…then come up with the copy.
These postcards are going to your prospects or other audience. Imagine sending them a postcard each week for ten weeks straight. Do they get what you do?
Can you condense your message down to the postcard? Can you find their hot button, or pain, or need, or whatever it is you call it now in your own sales training program?
Three sentences and a picture. Show me what you got.
Here are two examples for you. At Linkup, the coolest of the job search engines, we index company websites and present those jobs to job seekers. By showing job seekers only these jobs and taking them directly to the company’s own website, they are better prepared, more likely to understand the company and so forth. Here are two postcards that condense those thoughts. My tenth one is a LOT better and so will yours.
22 users commented in " The New Visual Elevator Pitch "
Another fascinating idea from the mind of GL. It reminds me of the “learning” I heard somewhere that says if you can’t explain what you do to a 7 year old your elevator pitch needs work. I’m still looking for a 7 year old who is willing to listen.
Thanks Dave. No kidding…but a lot of venture guys I know have the attention span of a 7 year old, which makes the visual elevator pitch even more necessary.
‘Course then what happens is…you hear well sure your elevator pitch is good, but I want a 250 page business plan including market research. They always seem to want what you don’t have.
Love the idea… especially how you don’t overload it with too much (which I’ve seen on much smaller business cards… have to wince to read the jargon).
Thanks Jason…and much more fun too. The idea, I think, is to have your team do ten or more. You are sure to get some useful “sound bites” then….the pictures help. (thanks Google Images)
Love the concept. Like most ‘good ones’ it’s simple, direct and conveys a message in easy to read and understand sound bites. I think the idea lends itself to more than postcards and I’m mulling over how to use the framework for a video pitch.
Thanks Bill. Just name your framework after me. Thanks for stopping by and your comment.
[...] blog post, The New Visual Elevator Pitch, has some examples of his [...]
[...] (via Dave Opton of Execunet) about an idea to share your elevator pitch visually. GL’s blog post, The New Visual Elevator Pitch, has some examples of his idea. I’ve seen many job seekers put various types of statements on [...]
Its important to find ways to create better elevator pitches so everyone can tap into the power of a good pitch wherever and whenever they need it. http://www.Buzzuka.com is a good place to start – even before you create a visual version or whatever you need, you’ve got to start by clarifying your message. We do this through 3 easy steps (right brain facts, left brain passion and whole brain organizing). It really works as a great starting point for any pitch creation. Try it and see.
I dropped one off
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/286392/2010-04-20%20TL.ppt
appreciate feedback.
A unique way of delivering your message!