Listen to Your Own Elevator Pitch

Here is a hard truth: no one wants to hear a pitch.

Even when we want to buy, we still don’t want to hear it.

Even so, a standard in every messaging platform is the elevator pitch.  The challenge is keeping your pitch from being “too pitchy.”

The best way to address this is to read it out loud. Listen to how it sounds.

You obviously need to communicate your offer – but to get attention it must be all about the customer and their perspective on value. A good pitch doesn’t sound like one! Reading through your draft can be a great way to massage your message to tune it to your audience’s ear. And be sure to read it aloud to both marketing and sales personnel to get a true reality check.

Is There a Story within Your Elevator Pitch?

As you listen to it, does it communicate an actual story?  The sound of a pitch is unmistakable and a huge turnoff. Talking about your offer without a relevant story that does absolutely nothing for audience engagement.

I have worked with marketers who work hard to craft a solid story, but when it gets to the salesperson, it doesn’t really provide all the things that make a story work: theme, setting, conflict, plot.

Channel your inner buyer and ask yourself if you listened to an elevator pitch recited by a salesperson that has little or no context, plot, or theme – how engaged would YOU be?

If you are not sure if the story hangs together well, read it to someone else.  A story needs an audience, and you need one to help you determine if this is a story or just another pitch.