Explain Your Solution in 60 Seconds or Less – Here’s How

by

14 November 2018

Start Ups

Solution

Do you have an elevator pitch?

Whether you’re an ambitious entrepreneur with nothing more than a good idea, a fully funded startup gearing up for further funding rounds or your long-anticipated go-to-market, or a mature company looking to retake control of its reputation, a succinct encapsulation of your identity and solution(s) is crucial to a cogent market strategy.

Elevator pitches are important for individual professionals, too. “Your elevator pitch is a way to share your expertise and credentials quickly and effectively with people who don’t know you,” writes personal branding expert Alison Doyle.

Here’s what you need to do to develop and refine your elevator pitch. Your ultimate goal: a comprehensive spiel that answers one question — “what do you do?” — in 60 seconds or less.

1. Start With a Concise Directory Description

 The nub of your elevator pitch is a company description (or a personal one, if you’re still pitching an idea) that factually describes what you do (or hope to do). If you haven’t already done so, develop a descriptive statement for your social media and business directory profiles, along with the lines of this Crunchbase profile for Florida entrepreneur Steve Dorfman. This statement won’t be compelling enough to build your entire elevator pitch around, but it’s a good skeleton for the initial who-what-where.

2. Identify Your Core Audience Groups

 How much do you know about audience segmentation? If your answer is, “not much,” get up to speed on the process and spend some time drilling down on the core audience groups to which your pitch needs to speak (if you’re not already reaching out to them in other ways). Remember, you can draft multiple iterations of the same pitch, depending on who’s in the room or on the page.

3. Set Yourself Apart from the Competition (Without Disparaging Them)

 Now comes the real meat of your pitch: a unique selling proposition that differentiates your idea or solution from competing concepts — theoretical or otherwise — without throwing shade. Generally speaking, you don’t want to name names, unless your solution is an explicit offshoot of something that came before.

4. Isolate One or Two Key Factoids or Stats

 You don’t have a lot of time to throw facts or stats out at your audience. Nor should you dwell on specifics, for their (and your) sanity. But a well-placed nugget or two may well be what’s needed to concentrate minds. Again, your audience may dictate which nugget you choose to include in any given iteration.

5. Make the Ask

 You won’t know if you don’t ask — to make the ask, smoothly. Regardless of who’s listening, your pitch should conclude with a clear call to action that doesn’t read like a pro forma sales pitch. Make your audience believe in what you’re asking them to do.

You’re Talking — Is Anybody Listening?

 We’ve all been there: explaining a concept near and dear to our hearts so earnestly that we become lost in our own narrative — only to pull back and realize that the audience has nodded off or lost the plot.

A concise, well-articulated, well-organized elevator pitch should hold your audience’s attention, if only because it’s not long enough to put anyone to sleep. Striving to be the entrepreneur who listens twice as much as they talk doesn’t preclude you from being the entrepreneur who effortlessly commands a room, too.

Read Also:

I enjoy writing and I write quality guest posts on topics of my interest and passion. I have been doing this since my college days. My special interests are in health, fitness, food and following the latest trends in these areas. I am an editor at Content Rally.

View all posts

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related

Startups

Useful Marketing Tips for Startups

Startups need to use different marketing methods compared to established businesses. The reason for this is simple – startups have a very limited budget and less experience compared to established companies. It is crucial to be aware that, if your marketing is done right, it can have an incredibly positive impact on the success of your business, and its net income. However, if you do it wrong, it may feel as if you are throwing money away. If you want to be successful and profitable, you need to use the right methods of advertising. Don’t copy established businesses as you are surely not able to do all the things that they do. Instead, you should try certain marketing methods that are perfect for small companies with limited budget and experience. These methods will help you increase sales, profits, and avoid wasting money. Different Marketing Tips Startups Must Consider At Their End    There are multiple marketing tips startups can consider as their end while developing their business in the right direction. Try to Think Outside the Box: You need to keep in mind that the business field is changing rapidly. The marketing landscape has changed dramatically over the years, especially compared to the time before the internet. If they want to be successful, startups need to combine traditional marketing methods with online advertising. When advertising products and services that you offer, you need to be original and think outside the box. It is crucial to come up with unique and innovative solutions that will be both effective and creative. Whatever you do, you should make sure that it is original, instead of just trying to copy what was already done numerous times before. Provide Useful Information about Your Products: Of course, your products are amazing in your eyes. However, it doesn’t mean that everyone else is delighted by them, and is just waiting to hear about them. You need to be aware that people are not rushing to buy the products that you offer, and if you want to change this, you need to advertise them properly. You shouldn’t push anyone to try them. Instead, it is a wise idea to provide information and tips that people will find useful. If you want to be successful, you should use visuals including images and videos. People will look forward to trying your products if they consider them interesting and useful. Use Powerful Business Signage: Another thing that can improve your success and increase sales and profits is exciting and quality business signage. Many people pay attention to signs and are more likely to buy products that a particular company offers if they notice interesting signs in front of it. You need to keep in mind that many people pass by your business on a regular basis, and all of them are potential customers. However, a significant percentage of these people won’t be aware of your existence if you don’t attract their attention with custom business signs. You should use eye-catching signage if you want to increase your customer base and turn them into loyal clients. Something like this will have a huge positive impact on the success of your startup.Read Also:7 Startup Ideas For Young Entrepreneurs 5 Marketing Tips To Help Grow Your Business On Instagram

READ MOREDetails
Crowdfunding

Six Tips for Crowdfunding Success

Almost every start-up company these days considers crowdfunding as an avenue to receive funding. It is possible that an entrepreneur has already exhausted traditional sources of funds such as bank loans or peer-to-peer loans, and that crowdfunding is already the last resort to get a much-needed push for success. Fortunately, there are several crowdfunding sites to choose from, and each of them has unique features that work for specific types of campaigns.One of the main advantages of crowdfunding sites is that they will allow you to see the big picture and learn first-hand how your product or idea gets received by your target audience. Depending on how good or how poor the initial reaction by users is, you can make improvements and adjustments to increase your chances of success when the time comes for you to launch to a mass market officially. But you need to keep in mind that the crowdfunding formula doesn’t always work for all, no matter how unique or exciting your idea is. To increase your chances of success, consider the following tips. 1. Learn from other successful campaigns: You don’t always need to rely on your own devices to come up with a successful campaign. Copying and tweaking the ideas of other successful entrepreneurs on crowdfunding sites can help you get the boost you need. For example, you can test how well your backers respond to different kinds of rewards, or you can watch videos and success stories from other campaigns. 2. Do a lot of self-promotion: While crowdfunding sites will do a minimal amount of promotion, you can’t expect this to be enough marketing for your campaign. You’ll need to do the legwork if you want your campaign to reach media personnel, get featured on social media sites, and gain as much traction with users as possible. 3. Produce a stunning video: It is a proven fact that investors on crowdfunding sites prefer to watch short videos regarding campaigns they are supporting. If you want to attract a large following for your product or idea, you need to begin by producing a high-quality and content-rich video about your campaign. 4. Don’t make hasty decisions: Timing is also essential if you want to be successful in your crowdfunding campaign. There is generally no perfect time to launch a campaign, but you need to make sure that you have devoted enough time to develop your idea before you start asking for support from backers. 5. Plan your strategy after launching the campaign: If you don’t have a plan of action after starting the campaign, you may find yourself lost regarding the next steps you need to take. You need to have a contingency plan when you encounter challenges and, if possible, hire a marketing manager who will handle the promotional aspects of the campaign. 6. Patience is key: Aside from doing what you need to do to tap backers and investors for your project, you also need a considerable amount of patience and perseverance to succeed in crowdfunding. You can’t expect a miracle to happen overnight. In crowdfunding, there is no set timeline, and every step of the way is a learning process.Read Also:Six Pointers To Starting A Successful Business What Are The Benefits Associated With Crowdfunding For Businesses?

READ MOREDetails
Sell Textbooks

Top Places You Can Sell Textbooks in 2021

Are you searching for the best places to sell your textbooks? With the cost of books alone being expensive, you should be.Here are some quick facts that you may not know:According to Bloomberg, since 2001, the cost of textbooks for college students has risen by 135%. Research by FinAid suggests that the cost of college increases about eight times every year. According to Experian, in 2020, student loans have surpassed credit card debt at $1.57 trillion.The list provided in this guide ensures you get a reasonable amount of your money back on your college textbooks. In addition, millions of students use these bookselling websites to acquire some of their money spent on books.It's time for you to do the same. So, if you're thinking of recycling your textbooks, hold on a second and answer the following questions before you take any action:Is your textbook in good condition? Are the textbooks collecting dust?If your answer is yes to both questions, use the following top places to sell your textbooks and earn the maximum amount of your money back. 5 Best Places To Sell Your Textbooks1. Decluttr Decluttr is one of the best sites to sell used textbooks online. Aside from buying books, they also purchase other items such as DVDs, phones, CDs, and legos. If you're interested in video games, you can sell them online via Decluttr.The site is simple to use when selling your textbooks. All you need to do is visit Decluttr, select the textbook option, and enter the book’s ISBN.Afterward, you choose your book’s condition, and the company will offer you a quote. It’s that easy. If you accept the offer, Decluttr sends you a shipping label so that you can ship your textbooks.If you have a local UPS store in your area, you can take it to them for free. Once the company receives your package, you get paid through PayPal, check, or direct deposit. If you’re not interested in the money, Decluttr gives you the option to send your money to charity. 2. BookDeal.com If you’re looking for a platform that:Makes it easy for you to find the highest offers, Ensures easy selling process, Gives you protection with its unique Upload Book Photos feature, Offers a vast network of reliable book-buying companies, Ensures that you get paid,Then, we recommend BookDeal.com. The company has been in the bookselling business for more than 10 years. With gathered experience, they’ve learned how to make it stress-free and transparent for students to sell used textbooks.All you need to do is visit the site, enter your book's ISBN and get the highest price. From there, you ship your textbooks for free and get paid via PayPal, Zelle, or Venmo. It's that simple! 3. BookScouter BookScouter allows you to sell your books right from your smartphone device. The company has an app for you to sell your books. What you do is register, scan the ISBN codes of the textbooks you want to sell, and that’s it.The app will show you how much your textbooks are worth and the vendors that will accept them. BookSCouter works with many vendors, including Chegg and Amazon. You get the chance to select the vendor you prefer.When you select your vendor, you choose your book's condition and get your shipping label. Now, BookScouter is not the company that buys your textbooks. Instead, they are a third-party app that helps you sell books online. 4. Amazon Amazon is one of the best places to sell your textbooks online. The company started as a book retailer, and it's still a significant place to sell books online. Now, you have two ways to sell on Amazon.The first step is to create a list as an Amazon seller. That means you’d take care of the product pricing, create shipping labels and send it to the post office yourself. As long as you have the time, you can get more money in the end.If you have the time, you can use the second option. This option is for you to undergo Amazon’s trade-in program. There are questions about your textbook’s condition to answer, and if you agree, you get a shipping label.After you send your books and get verified by Amazon, they’ll submit your payment to you. 5. ValoreBooks You can sell and rent your textbooks on ValoreBooks, which can be a helpful platform for college students. However, they are a lot pickier compared to other sites. That means if your book is not in good condition, there's a slight chance of selling on the platform.Regardless, they offer the best place to sell your books. Final Thoughts If you want the best place to sell your textbooks online, we recommend checking out the list provided in this article. However, if you're planning on making bookselling a side business, we recommend that you do your research before you begin.However, with these lists, you are guaranteed to make the most amount of money you can get from your textbooks.Read Also:How to do bookkeeping in Malta minus complications 6 Ways You Can Secure a 4.0 in College 5 tips for college students on how to begin investing using pocket money

READ MOREDetails