Peady’s Selling Engagement sponsored by IRD Prospector
Many times, when I ask media sales people to give me a quick overview of who they are and what they do I get a rambling story without any structure or focus. Stuff about what they have done in the past, their current role and what their current company does and how good it is.
Which brings me to a saying attributed to Albert Einstein: “If you can’t explain it to a 6-year-old, you don’t understand it yourself”
The Elevator Pitch
One way to explain what you do is with an “elevator pitch” (or personal 30 second commercial).
Whether you’re trying to cold call or network, it’s essential to explain yourself quickly and clearly.
In effect, it’s a synopsis of your business and what you do in a condensed version – short enough to get your concept across to a person between floors in an elevator. Hence the name.
There are three important things when formulating, practicing (because you should practice it) and delivering your elevator pitch
- Your product / company name
- The problem(s) you solve
- The key benefit(s) of what you do
The real key to making an elevator pitch highly effective is to add a question or curiosity statement.
But no matter how you construct it remember to stick to what Einstein was saying – keep it simple!
Here’s an example that I recently heard – it’s very simple, quite effective and has some curiosity in it:
“I work for a unique radio station XYZ FM and we help businesses like yours to become well known in the local market.
We can do this because have found a special way to really engage our listeners, resulting in great partnerships that work”
Good luck putting yours together.
Until next week good selling!
About the author
Stephen Pead is a media industry veteran of 30 years with significant experience in direct sales, sales management and general management. He is based in Sydney and specialises in helping SME’s market their businesses more effectively and providing training for salespeople and sales managers.
He can be contacted at [email protected]
