Suppose you enter an elevator from the 25th floor of a high profile skyscraper in New York City. Then, just before the door closes, someone else enters the elevator with you. You notice that he is the CEO of a major corporation that your company...

The Secret To An Elevator Pitch

Suppose you enter an elevator from the 25th floor of a high profile skyscraper in New York City. Then, just before the door closes, someone else enters the elevator with you. You notice that he is the CEO of a major corporation that your company hopes to do business with. This is a huge opportunity and you only have 30 seconds before you both get off at the ground floor. That is why you should always have an elevator speech ready to pitch at any moment.

Because elevator pitches have to be so short, there is only so much you can say. You have to choose what is important and what is not.

Here is a short list of things that your elevator pitch must answer.

1. What is your product or service?




2. Who is your market?




3. What is your revenue model?




4. Who is on your management team?




5. Who is your competition?




6. What is your competitive advantage?

Not only does your pitch need to answer those questions, but it should also contain four more elements to be successful.

• A hook.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  • You have to lure him or her in.
  
  
  
  
  




• No more than 60 seconds.
  
  
  
  
  
  • This is between 150 and 225 words.
  
  
  
  
  




• Passion.
  
  
  
  
  
  • People can tell if you are passionate about something, if you are not passionate about it, then why should they care.
  
  
  
  
  




• A request. 
  
  
  
  
  
  • At the end of the pitch, you have to ask for something or else the whole pitch was pointless. Usually this is a request to set up an appointment to further discuss what you are selling.
  
  
  
  
  

Elevator pitches are critical to selling when there is a very limited amount of time. Now that you have the basic structure to one, make sure you practice it so you will be ready if someone serendipitously walks into your elevator.

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Nick Tart is a senior at Colorado State University and the founder of JuniorBiz.com, teaching young people how to become entrepreneurs. He anticipates graduating Magna Cum Laude this spring and chooses to use his $40,000 education to help young people with their businesses. Find 100+ teen business ideas on his site. Entrepreneurship is a game. May the best one win.

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