How to POP! Your Elevator Pitch

Many people tell me they show my TEDx talk on INTRIGUE during team meetings and then brainstorm their elevator pitch so they introduce their company/produce/service more clearly, concisely, and compellingly.

Thought you might like a written version of my 60 second "Did You Know?" opening that has helped clients land million in funding and contracts.

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Did you know Harvard researcher Nancy F. Koehn found that goldfish have longer attention spans than we do? (Goldfish = 9 seconds. Humans = 8 seconds.)

This poses a problem anytime we want to earn people's attention and support.

Here's the question. What do you say when people ask, "What do you do?"

Hope you don't explain what you do because explanations are INFObesity.

Instead, follow the example of Kathleen Callendar, CEO of Pharma Jet, and one of my Springboard clients. Springboard Enterprises has helped women entrepreneurs generate $36.8 billion in funding/valuations. Kathleen was part of a workshop I presented for them on how to POP our Elevator Pitch.

She told me, “I’ve got good news and I’ve got bad news.”

“What’s the good news?”

“I get to pitch to a roomful of investors at the Paley Center in New York City.”

“That is good news. What’s the bad news?

“I'm going at 2:30 in the afternoon and I only have ten minutes. You can't say anything in ten minutes.”

I told her, “Actually, Kathleen, you don’t have ten minutes. These investors will have already heard sixteen other presentations. You have 60 seconds, max, to pull them out of their preoccupation and prove you're worth listening to.”

Here's the 60 second opening we came up with that helped Kathleen win millions in funding and be selected as one of America’s Most Promising Social Entrepreneurs that year.

"Did you know there are more than 1.8 billion inoculations given every year?

Did you know up to third of those are given with reused needles?

Did you know we are spreading and perpetuating the very diseases we are trying to prevent?

Imagine if there were a painless, one-use needle for a fraction of the current cost.

You don’t have to imagine it; we’ve created it. In fact, in this article . . ." 

Are you intrigued, do you want to know more?

That means Kathleen just got her priority in your mental door.

Let’s put this in perspective. Before we strategized this, Kathleen answered the "What does it do?" question by explaining that Pharma Jet was a "A needleless technology and medical delivery device for subcutaneous inoculations." 

A what?! People didn't know what she was talking about. And that's not good because confused people don't keep listening and they don't say yes.

This more intriguing, interactive, opening had people at hello.

Which is why next time someone asks, "What do you do?" ... do this:

1. ASK THREE “DID YOU KNOW?’ QUESTIONS.

What startling statistics can you introduce about the problem you're solving, the issue you're addressing, the need you're meeting? What will cause people's eyebrows to go up because they're thinking, “Really?! I didn't know it was that big, that bad, that costly, that urgent.”

Are you wondering, "Where do I find these startling statistics?" 

GTS it. Google That Stuff.

Just put into search "What are surprising statistics about _____?" (your issue or industry.) Up will come articles, studies, websites that introduce something new or recent that you didn't know.  And if it gets your eyebrows up (a sure sign of intrigue), it will probably get the eyebrows up of your customers, decision-makers and stakeholders. 

2. LINK THE WORD IMAGINE TO THREE ATTRIBUTES OF YOUR OFFERING.

The word “Imagine” pulls people out of their preoccupation because they're picturing your point and seeing what you’re saying.

Think about it. What did Kathleen’s decision-makers care about? Those painful inoculations. So we turned it into "painless." Those reused needles. So we said "one-use."

And almost all decision-makers care about money so we pointed out her invention was a "fraction of the current cost."

Do you see how we distilled three benefits of what she was proposing into one succinct “Who wouldn’t want that?!” sentence?

3.  Say, "YOU DON'T HAVE TO IMAGINE IT, WE'VE CREATED IT."

Now, provide evidence or precedence to show your solution isn’t pie in the sky or speculative; it’s a done deal and you (and your team) are ready to deliver it.

Reference a benchmark that shows where this has been done before, successfully.

Share a testimonial from a satisfied client who is shining example of your results.

Quote an industry expert who vouches for, and lends credibility to, your claims.

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Why does this three-step “Did You Know” elevator pitch work so well?

Because the quickest way to earn skeptics' attention is to introduce something they don’t know—but would like to know.

They’re now smarter than they were a moment ago.

They’ll give you their undivided attention because you’ve just proven you will be a good use of their time, mind and dime.

Plus, instead of being a snore, bore or chore by "telling people what you're going to tell them," you turned a monologue into a dialogue in under a minute. 

Remember, if you want to succeed, you must intrigue.

If you use this "Did you Know?" elevator pitch, people will say, "Tell me more."

Competitors will still be using the traditional (boring) elevator speech, while you will have created a hook on which to hang a mutually-rewarding conversation.

Want more ways to POP! out of your pack? Check out Sam's POPular book.