How to Easily Create Your Best Elevator Pitch Ever

Our company sells swag.

In reality, we are an offline marketing company that handles branded items. But most of our clients think in terms of swag, so let’s talk about what swag does for your business.

Swag opens the door to conversation. If someone takes your promotional product, more often than not they’ll let you give them the “elevator pitch.” Do you have one ready? If not, expect something like this to happen when giving out promotional items:

 

Visitor: Thanks. So what do you do?

Unprepared Marketer: We sell time management software.

V: Ahh.

UM: To companies and people. We sold a million subscriptions last month.

 

Wasted opportunity. That promotional item will probably never convert for you. It’s a firecracker that was never lit. In fact, you dosed it with a big bucket of noninterest.

How it could’ve gone instead with a prepared elevator “conversation”:

 

Visitor: Thanks. So what do you do?

Prepared Marketer: Have you ever felt like there’s not enough time in the day? Like everything you do brings you one step closer but two steps back? We sell software that helps you get control of your day again.

V: Ahh.

PM: Busy professionals who handle multiple calendars between work and home love us. People who use us say it’s like getting three hours more in your day. Could you use 3 additional hours?

4 Ways to Perfect the Elevator Pitch

The second elevator speech is better. Why? Because it’s not a speech so much as an intro to conversation. Here are a few other reasons:

1. It gets to something the visitor may be struggling with: needing more time.
2. It tells what the software can help with not the features it has. It piques interest this way.
3. The salesperson explains who it works well for: busy professionals, and in today’s world who doesn’t consider themselves busy?
4. The prepared marketer asks another question that is a sure thing answer and opens up additional conversation. Who will say no to needing more time? And then you can expand upon that with “what would you do with an extra 3 hours?” And now you’ve started a conversation and you’re beginning to build a relationship.

Don’t waste your money on swag without preparing a needs-based elevator conversation. Pique their interest, explain the problem you solve, who you solve it for, and engage them in conversation.