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Why Elevator Pitches Help Win Customers | |
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SoHo NEWS & TIPS
Helping You Make the Most of Your Small Office/Home Office
SoHoTIPS.com
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Greetings,
With all the public relations you do for your company, you
may forget about the best way to get the word out - your
employees. They are out in the community, meeting with others
who could potentially impact your business. Today's article
discusses how their pitches might help win your business new
customers.
Best,
Mandi
P.S. You can discuss this issue or any other topic in the
new SoHo News & Tips forum. Check it out here...
SoHo News & Tips Forum
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NEWS & TIDBITS
- Bankrupt Delphi says 83% of hourly workers at
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- Microsoft recalls Small Business Server 2003,
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- Mobile Candy Dish has issued a significant number
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- US computer manufacturer Gateway Inc. has
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- Sony Corp bought website operator Grouper
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- Microsoft to provide advertising for Facebook, a
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the next three years...
- Weyerhaeuser Co. and Canada's Domtar Inc. have
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Why 'Elevator Pitches' Help Win Customers
By David Coursey
If I asked everyone who works at your company to
tell me about the business, how many different
answers do you think I'd hear? I'm willing to bet
I'd hear about as many different stories as you
have employees.
That's unfortunate because your employees could be
your best public relations machine. They are out
in the community, meeting potential customers,
suppliers and others who can impact your business
— both for better and worse. Why not equip your
staff with the information they need to make a
good impression? No business can have too many
friends and your employees are just the people to
help make them.
I am not talking about turning all your employees
into salespeople, though I guess, in a low-pressure
way, that's precisely what I am saying. Everyone
on your payroll should be able to provide a short
introduction to your company, ideally geared to
the interests of the person that they've just met.
Follow that with an exchange of business cards and
you now have one more person who has a favorable
impression of your company and knows someone who
works there.
If appropriate, your employee then passes the
contact information along for appropriate follow-
up, potentially turning a chance encounter into a
sale.
To accomplish this, everyone in your company needs
to learn what I call the "elevator pitch" and be
able to recite some version of it whenever it
makes sense to do so. The elevator pitch is a
quick description of what your company does and
why your company is special. It's so named because
the pitch is brief enough that it can be delivered
during a typical elevator ride. Its shorthand for
"tell me why I should care about your company, and
do it in 30 seconds or less."
There is no perfect elevator pitch and every
company's will be different. It may be something
like:
"Northwind Traders is the only floral and gift
service that guarantees delivery anywhere within
12 hours, using a network of affiliates and
delivering quality gifts at affordable prices."
"Whatever IT is, you can find it on eBay, the
world's largest marketplace for private buyers and
sellers with more than 100 million users world-
wide."
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"Contoso Ltd. is the dealership that makes you
feel like a luxury car owner, no matter how long
ago you purchased your car, thanks to 24-hour
service and guaranteed repair appointments, free
loan cars, and certified technicians."
There are three things that need to be in an
elevator pitch:
1. What your company does.
2. Why it's better/different than your competitors
— first, only, best, largest, service-focused,
whatever that is.
3. Where to get more info. "I'd be glad to send
you a business plan," "Our Web site has all the
details," or "Can I set up a meeting to tell you
more?"
The elevator pitch needs to be fact-based,
interesting, and give the listener a reason to
remember your company. It's not a sales pitch, at
least not directly, but a verbal message that
expands upon the business card the listener is
about to receive.
Elevator pitches are not, however, a one-way
street. Your employees need to understand they
should be both good spokespeople and good listen-
ers, too. If you give someone a pitch, you're
obligated to listen to theirs, too. This shouldn't
be a chore, however, because you may find their
pitch every bit as useful as you hope they will
find yours.
DID YOU KNOW?
Dispense with your fax machine and that bulky instruction
booklet that came with it. Don't waste time trying to figure
out all the multiple functions on yet another piece of office
equipment. Use a service like MyFax (http://www.myfax.com/),
which makes simple work out of programming complex fax jobs.
So what did you think about this issue? Drop me a line and let
me know at mailto:mandi@gophercentral.com
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