Elevator Pitch, O Leary

Elevator Pitch 101
Chris OLeary
Version 1.21
Elevator Pitch 101

Copyright 2004 Chris OLeary
Whats An Elevator Pitch?
Elevator Pitch 101

ELEVATOR PITCH DEFINITION
An Elevator Pitch is a short, tailored, and benefit-focused description of a new product or service.
Elevator Pitch 101

THE ORIGIN OF THE TERM

Silicon Valley Run into a Venture Capitalist in an elevator
They ask you what you do
You have the length of the elevator ride (15 to 60 seconds) to convince them to
Continue talking Set up a follow-up meeting
Elevator Pitch 101

THE GOAL OF AN ELEVATOR PITCH

Prove to a potential investor that
You are articulate You understand selling You can get a customers attention
Not to
Convince them to invest in your company Persuade them to buy your product or service Close the deal
Elevator Pitch 101

Elevator Pitch 101

ELEVATOR PITCH = TEACHING TOOL

The listener probably doesnt
Know as much about the subject as you do. Care as much about the subject as you do.
Dont just load people down with facts

First establish the context of your innovation Help them organize what youre going to tell them
Tell them what youre going to tell them Listener = Your Grandmother Listener = Your Sales Force
Elevator Pitch 101
WHO NEEDS AN ELEVATOR PITCH?

Entrepreneurs Intrapraneurs
People inside a large organization who are
Trying to sell a project Trying to get funding for a new product or service
Salespeople Consultants Job Seekers
Elevator Pitch 101

WHEN TO USE AN ELEVATOR PITCH?

Elevator Social Setting
Introduced to someone by a friend Introductions before a meeting
Buffet Line Line at the Bar And what do you do?

You only have one sentence to respond
Elevator Pitch 101
Characteristics of a Good Elevator Pitch

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Elevator Pitch 101

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Elevator Pitch 101

I have only made this letter rather long because I have not had time to make it shorter. Blaise Pascal
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Elevator Pitch 101

SHORT
People are busy
Too many things to do Too little time to get them done
People arent
As interested in the subject as you are As knowledgeable about the subject as you are
30,000 foot overview
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Elevator Pitch 101

TAILOREDTO THE AUDIENCE

Different people care about different things Speak to the concerns of your audience
Engineers
How does it work?
Investors & Partners

What is it? Who will buy it? How big is the market? Can you make money selling it? How much? Who is on your team? How much experience do you have solving the problem?
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Elevator Pitch 101

TAILOREDTO THE TIMEFRAME

Pay attention to how much time you have.
Too many people assume they have 10 to 15 minutes. Realistically, you only have 10 to 15 seconds.
Get your key points across. If you have time, expand on your message. Elevator Pitch = Accordion
Concertina
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Elevator Pitch 101

ELEVATOR PITCH = CONCERTINA
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Elevator Pitch 101

BENEFIT-FOCUSED
So what?
Why will people buy what you are selling? Whats wrong with the state of the art?
Not just a Solution In Search Of A Problem
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Elevator Pitch 101

The Flow of an Elevator Pitch
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Elevator Pitch 101

COMMUNICATION 101
Whatit is and does Whowill buy it Whythey will buy it Whoyou are to solve the problem Howyour innovation works
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Elevator Pitch 101

People used to tell me that if you can't explain your idea in the span of an elevator ride, then it's not a good idea. My answer? If I have an idea that I could explain completely in an elevator, it ain't much of an idea.
Dean Kamen
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Elevator Pitch 101

THE FLOW OF AN ELEVATOR PITCH

Summary Sentence The Customer The Problem The Pain The Solution The Benefits The Team The Money The Deal
Dont talk about The Technology

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Elevator Pitch 101

SUMMARY SENTENCE
The single most critical element What to say if (since) you only have 10 seconds Quick overview of what you do
Set the context Position your product and company Can be used on its own to introduce yourself Tagline
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Elevator Pitch 101

SUMMARY SENTENCE TEMPLATE
Company Name is a Type of Company and has developed a Product Category called Product Name that is Key Benefit(s) than existing solutions.
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Elevator Pitch 101

THE CUSTOMER
Who will buy what you have built? Do you understand the customer?
Motivations Existing solutions
Talk about specific people and/or companies

Not market segments
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Elevator Pitch 101

THE PROBLEM
Whats wrong with the state of the art?
What will drive people to adopt your innovation?
How many people (or companies) are experiencing The Problem? Ways to communicate The Problem
Start off with a (preferably personal) story Explain how you came to see that a problem exists Compare and contrast the state of the art and your vision of the future
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Elevator Pitch 101

THE PAIN
What are the consequences of The Problem?
Money Time Physical or psychological pain
Be specific and tangible about the nature and magnitude of the cost Give evidence that people are in pain
That they will change and adopt your innovation
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Elevator Pitch 101

THE SOLUTION
What have you built?
Whatzit? No How
Give people a plain English definition

No jargon No acronyms No MBA speak
Use analogies
Whats it like? How is it different? Hollywood pitch meeting
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Elevator Pitch 101

THE BENEFITS
Whats in it for me? What is your relative advantage?
Compared to the state of the art (e.g. existing solutions) Ideally, you can offer a 10X improvement Problematic if only 1X improvement
How will you get the attention of your customers? Do you

Help people make or save money? Save people time?
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Elevator Pitch 101

THE TEAM
High level
Cumulative years of relevant experience
Why are you qualified to solve The Problem?

Emphasize the credibility and credentials of the team Patents
What is your prior experience

Dealing with The Problem? Solving The Problem?
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Elevator Pitch 101

THE MONEY
What do you need to reach the next milestone?
Prototype? Shipping product?
How much $ you need? How much time will it take? High level use of proceeds
Where are you in the product development lifecycle?
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Elevator Pitch 101

THE DEAL
Leave it until later Dont mention valuation
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Elevator Pitch 101

DONT TALK ABOUT THE TECHNOLOGY

Paradoxical Hard for many people
What they love What they have spent _ years dealing with
The logic
If they understand it, you wont give them enough If they dont understand it, theyll lose interest
Litmus test
Can you sell? Can you talk to an Ordinary Person?
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Elevator Pitch 101

IF YOU ARE PRESSED FOR TIME

Cut anything
That may appeal to (or be understood) by just a few people That may involve a negotiation That may require an in-depth conversation
Cut from the bottom of the list

First cut The Technology Then cut The Money Then cut The Team
Everything else should be touched on in your Summary Sentence

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Elevator Pitch 101

Whats Wrong With The State of The Art?
Exercise
SalesLogix = Synchronization, Usability Heuris = Cost, Quality
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Elevator Pitch 101

Sample Elevator Pitch

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Elevator Pitch 101

ABOUT SALESLOGIX
Leading middle market Customer Relationship Management (CRM) brand Founded by Pat Sullivan
Creator of Act!
Raised $17 million in 3 rounds Sold to Sage Software in 2001 for $253 million
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Elevator Pitch 101

SALESLOGIX - SUMMARY SENTENCE
SalesLogix is a software company and has developed a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system that is both more powerful, and easier to use, than existing CRM solutions.
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Elevator Pitch 101

SALESLOGIX - THE CUSTOMER
Our customers are the tens of thousands of mid-sized organizations that have outgrown contact managers but cannot afford the cost and complexity of high-end CRM systems.
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Elevator Pitch 101

SALESLOGIX - THE PROBLEM

Existing CRM solutions fall into one of two categories. One the one hand, you have Contact managers like Act and GoldMine that salespeople love but that do not allow people to share information across a large organization. On the other hand you have high-end CRM systems like Siebel that will scale to support the needs of hundreds or thousands of users but that salespeople refuse to use.
High-End CRM Systems
Contact Managers
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Elevator Pitch 101

SALESLOGIX - THE PAIN
The result is that too many organizations are unable to Coordinate the efforts of their sales and customer service teams Obtain a holistic picture of the customer Maximize the revenue gained from each customer
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Elevator Pitch 101

SALESLOGIX - THE SOLUTION
SalesLogix is the CRM system that delivers the best of both worlds The ease of use of a contact manager The scalability, database synchronization, and reporting capabilities of a high-end CRM system
High-End CRM Systems
SalesLogix
Contact Managers
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Elevator Pitch 101

SALESLOGIX - THE BENEFITS
SalesLogix Makes salespeople happy by giving them tools that save them time Makes sales managers happy by giving them the reports that they need Makes I.S. people happy by using industry-standard databases like Oracle and Microsoft SQL Server
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Elevator Pitch 101

SALESLOGIX - THE TEAM
The SalesLogix team has over 50 years of combined experience building and selling CRM systems. The team is led by Pat Sullivan, the former co-founder and CEO of Contact Software International, the company that developed Act, the most widely used contact manager.
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Elevator Pitch 101

SALESLOGIX - THE MONEY
SalesLogix is seeking $5 million to finance the continued development and marketing of SalesLogix 1.0, which is scheduled to be released in April 1997.
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Elevator Pitch 101

Frequently Made Mistakes

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Elevator Pitch 101

GETTING LOST IN THE HOW

Excessive (or exclusive) focus on How your innovation works Common mistake of engineers
They answer the questions they would ask, not the questions an investor or customer would ask
Your listener probably doesnt understand the technology (and doesnt care) Dont get into the How until later presentations
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Elevator Pitch 101

MISMATCHED MESSAGE
People are used to giving one type of message to one type of audience
Assume it will work universally
Must tailor the message to the audience Investors want to hear about upside potential
Size of market Willingness to pay
Customers want to hear about benefits

How will this save me time? How will this save me money? How will this make me money?
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Elevator Pitch 101

HYPE-erbole
This is the greatest invention since sliced bread
This is a multi-billion dollar market. If we can get just 1% of this market
Will turn people off

People are skeptical
If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is
You will seem unfocused You will come across as nave

Selling is harder than you think
Be enthusiastic but dont overstate your case

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Elevator Pitch 101

NOT GETTING TO THE POINT

Too many people save the best for last
But theres so much more I could never do it justice Trying to intrigue people
Experienced people put the best information first Tell them what youre going to tell them Start off with an executive summary
Single phrase that addresses The Problem and The Solution You only have a limited amount of time Be prepared to be cut off at any moment
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Elevator Pitch 101

NO STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Merely different Excessive focus on
The opportunity The potential The solution
Never explain whats wrong with state of the art

Most people hate to change What will drive people to change?
Hypothetical problem
No establishing that a problem truly exists
Solution In Search Of A Problem

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Elevator Pitch 101

NO STATEMENT OF THE BENEFIT(S)

All features and technology
All How
The benefits are what most people care about Expect benefits to be self-evident
Too often benefits are only clear to an expert
Put benefits at the end of the pitch

Should be at the front Why will customers care?
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Elevator Pitch 101

MBA-itis
Excessive use of
Jargon Buzzwords Acronyms
Speak English How would you explain this to

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Your spouse Your child Your father Your grandmother

Elevator Pitch 101
NOT ESTABLISHING CREDIBILITY

What are your qualifications to solve this problem?
Credibility Credentials Experience Contacts
Do you really understand the problem?

Have you lived with it? Is this a real solution to a hypothetical problem?
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Elevator Pitch 101

TRYING TO IMPRESS PEOPLE

Some cultures = IQ driven
Big words Acronyms
Youre not operating in that world Different audience = different vocabulary
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Elevator Pitch 101

SWALLOWING AN ELEPHANT
Trying to conquer a market in one fell swoop
Expensive Time-consuming
Must break a market up into bite-sized chunks
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Elevator Pitch 101

In Summary
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Elevator Pitch 101

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Elevator Pitch 101

DOs AND DONTs

Do
Speak English Tailor your message to the audience Mention patents or exceptional experience
Dont
Get lost in the How Try to impress people with how smart you are Oversell or overpromise Say things like
We have no competition If we can get just 1% of the market.
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Elevator Pitch 101

THE FLOW OF AN ELEVATOR PITCH

Summary Sentence The Customer The Problem The Pain The Solution The Benefits The Team The Money The Deal
Dont talk about The Technology

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Elevator Pitch 101

RESOURCES
Presenting to Win
Jerry Weisman
How to Get Your Point Across in 30 seconds

Milo O. Frank
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Elevator Pitch 101

CONTACT INFO
314.909.9760 - home 314.494.1324 - cell chris@thepowerofpain.com www.thepowerofpain.com Slides Available Online at www.thepowerofpain.com
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Elevator Pitch 101


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Elevator Pitch 101

Elevator Pitch 101

Whats An Elevator Pitch?

Elevator Pitch 101

ELEVATOR PITCH DEFINITION

Elevator Pitch 101

THE ORIGIN OF THE TERM

Elevator Pitch 101

THE GOAL OF AN ELEVATOR PITCH

Elevator Pitch 101

Elevator Pitch 101

ELEVATOR PITCH = TEACHING TOOL

Dont just load people down with facts

WHO NEEDS AN ELEVATOR PITCH?

Salespeople Consultants Job Seekers

Elevator Pitch 101

WHEN TO USE AN ELEVATOR PITCH?

Buffet Line Line at the Bar And what do you do?

Characteristics of a Good Elevator Pitch

Elevator Pitch 101

ELEVATOR PITCH DEFINITION

Elevator Pitch 101

Elevator Pitch 101

30,000 foot overview

Elevator Pitch 101

TAILOREDTO THE AUDIENCE

Investors & Partners

Elevator Pitch 101

TAILOREDTO THE TIMEFRAME

Elevator Pitch 101

ELEVATOR PITCH = CONCERTINA

Elevator Pitch 101

Not just a Solution In Search Of A Problem

Elevator Pitch 101

The Flow of an Elevator Pitch

Elevator Pitch 101

Elevator Pitch 101

Elevator Pitch 101

THE FLOW OF AN ELEVATOR PITCH

Dont talk about The Technology

Elevator Pitch 101

Elevator Pitch 101

SUMMARY SENTENCE TEMPLATE

Elevator Pitch 101

Talk about specific people and/or companies

Elevator Pitch 101

Elevator Pitch 101

Elevator Pitch 101

Give people a plain English definition

Elevator Pitch 101

How will you get the attention of your customers? Do you

Elevator Pitch 101

Why are you qualified to solve The Problem?

What is your prior experience

Elevator Pitch 101

Elevator Pitch 101

Elevator Pitch 101

DONT TALK ABOUT THE TECHNOLOGY

Elevator Pitch 101

IF YOU ARE PRESSED FOR TIME

Cut from the bottom of the list

Everything else should be touched on in your Summary Sentence