subject: Elevator Pitch 101 - Start Your Small Business on the Right Foot [print this page] Elevator Pitch 101 - Start Your Small Business on the Right Foot
People from all walks of life have a very limited attention span in today's Internet era. If a thing does not catch the fancy of a potential client or an investor in your Internet business within the span of a couple of minutes, we can our hopes for that connection good bye. So it is very important for a freelancer working from home or for a location independent worker or for someone looking to start an online business with venture capital, it is very important to get a concise & sharp elevator pitch ready. An Elevator Pitch should be crisp, carefully planned, and well-practiced description about the product or service that the your are going to offer.
The pitch should be clear and simple enough to be understood by even a novice. The pitch should be short enough to be delivered by the time an elevator reaches the top floor of the building. Not all buildings have a hundred floors, so care should taken o prepare a pitch in an elevator that goes fifteen floors.
Elevator pitches are not necessarily delivered on an elevator. The idea is to pitch the essence of the business to the potential client or investor in a social gathering or in a cab or in a place that gives you little room to maneuver. In the case of a freelancer working from home, the pitch should be focused on selling the service. On the other hand, or a person looking to start an Internet business, the pitch should highlight the business and not the product. The investor's focus would be on the business model and on your ability to run the business. Care should be taken to avoid egoistic rants during the pitch. Bring modest and humble is always a good trait. Ideally, you will only have 30-60 seconds to make that very essential and powerful first impression. Assuming that an elevator pitch could either make or break your business helps to improve your concentration. In most cases the elevator pitch can actually make or break a business by influencing investors and/or customers.
