The Elevator Speech

The idea behind the elevator speech is that–by accident–you meet a target prospect in an elevator, on the 25th floor. She asks what you do.

by Timothy F. Bednarz, PhD SalesVantage.com

You have an opportunity to give it your best shot before getting to the ground floor, where you both get off. When you arrive at the lobby she now knows everything of importance about what you do for a living, and why it is valuable to her and her company to consider becoming a customer. This is also an effective technique to use at cocktail parties, various meetings and functions you might attend.

Implications to the Sales Person

The "elevator speech," or your personal thirty second commercial, is a brief, carefully constructed statement that tells people the most important information about you, your company, and your products. It crystallizes the most important information about your sales value into a well-organized, concise paragraph of compelling information for your target customer or prospect. It must provide the prospect with a compelling business reason to want to business with you and peak their interest to hear more about what you can do for them. This is also an effective technique to use to communicate your message quickly and effectively to prospects in any sales environment.

The Application

The elevator speech is a very powerful sales tool for almost everyone. Here are the six basics of constructing an elevator speech:

1. What is your product/service/solution?

2. Who is the customer it is intended for?

3. What need or problem does it address?

4. What does it do?

5. How does it work and what are the benefits to me?

6. Why are you different and better than others?

If you think you can communicate your sales message, clearly and concisely, without doing this exercise or discipline, it might be an interesting exercise for you to try doing it your way with a disinterested third party, and then circle back and do it this way, and let them compare.

Something to Think About

Communicating your message clearly and consisely is essential. With that in mind, consider the following points:

1. Have you ever used this technique to introduce yourself to a prospect? How effective was it? Explain.

2. Do you see a value for having a prepared “sound bite” style presentation? Where can you see applications for your own business? Explain.

Copyright ©2000 by Timothy F. Bednarz,PhD All Rights Reserved
Timothy F. Bednarz, PhD is the Principal Partner of the American Management Development Group. He can be reached at 800.654-4935 or [email protected]. Find out more at http://www.LetsTalkSelling.com.

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