What’s Your Elevator Pitch?

As an entrepreneur or small business owner, you are often asked what you do.  Be it from family, friends or attendees at a conference, people want to know about your business. Knowing this, how many times have you started and ended with something like, “huh?” Well, get ready for your story to change.

Having a quick, interesting, powerful answer — an elevator pitch — is a simple and effective means to not only describe what you do, but may lead to opportunities that you did not even know it existed.  As the saying goes, you only have one chance to make a good first impression.

When you describe your business, you want to prepare a pitch that will spark someone’s interest and have them saying, “Tell me more!”  Here are a few questions you must answer to create a good elevator pitch:

1.  What problem are you trying to solve?
2.  Can you keep it simple?  Use plain English, be intriguing and speak with conviction.
3.  Why would people want to know more?  Instead of “I am a graphic artist,” start with “I help people get more business by illustrating their dreams.”
4.  Does it accelerate your heart rate?

While these questions should get your creative juices flowing, grab a copy of Chris O’Leary’s Elevator Pitch Essentials to get the full run down on how to get your point across and leave a lasting impression in two minutes or less. You can also get some tips over at StartUp Nation.