How to Write an Elevator Pitch

Your first instinct when pitching your business to family, friends or an investor might be to inform them of how great a product or service is. You've spent hours upon days developing such a great product, why wouldn't anyone want to hear about it? Unfortunately, this isn't the time for a sales pitch. At this point in the game, the products or services you offer don't matter. It's how you are going to run the business that matters.

This brings us to the elevator pitch. The elevator pitch is a truncated speech you can use when you explain or pitch your business. You want to keep the speech between 30-90 seconds at most. Picture yourself in an elevator. How much time do you have to speak with someone? Not long.

Lets discuss how to develop a great elevator pitch.

1. Write down what you do in several different ways. Keep it short and to the point. Don't be afraid to think outside the box. You can write them with different attitudes in mind: goofy, serious, angry, happy, sad, ect.

2. Write down your target market. This is the demographic you are selling to. Keep it short and to the point. "I am selling to 24-35 year old women located in the Dallas, Ft. Worth metroplex."

3. Write down how you plan to bring in revenue. Be extremely clear. This is the part investors will pay special attention to. You might want to include the number of years you see it taking to begin bringing in profit.

4. Write down the main "players" on the bench. What role each will play in the success of the business? If you have any high profile "players," you may list them last so the name doesn't get mixed up with the laundry list of other names.

5. Write down who your competition is. I know you'd like to think there isn't anyone who can possibly compete with your product or service, but there is. If you are going to run a business similar to one with a larger market share, it can be proof that your business model might work.

6. Write down what sets you apart. You may be running a company that is similar to another but the differences are probably staggering. You are going to be running a different business model so take it's differences and explain how those differences are going to help you bring in more business than your competition.

Once you have your brief answers to the above elements, combine them in a way that makes sense for you and your business. You might want to write it down in several ways to figure out which flows best. You will be doing some fine tuning after the first several pitches and that's okay. Remember your elevator pitch should be between 30-90 seconds.