How to Craft the Perfect Elevator Pitch Rolf Jester Gartner for Business Leaders

How to Craft the Perfect
Elevator Pitch
Rolf Jester
Gartner for Business Leaders
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Participant Poll Question 1:
Question: The elevator pitch is delivered mostly by:
- Sales people
- Marketing communications managers
- Public and investor relations people
- The CEO
Please select the one option that best fits your situation.
Responses are confidential
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Participant Poll Question 2:
Question: For 2009, your marketing budget:
- Has it decreased over 2008
- Is it flat with 2008
- Has it increased over 2008
Please select the one option that best fits your situation.
Responses are confidential
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You Just Read that Warren Buffet is Eager
to Invest in Companies Like Yours …
AND he just got on an elevator with you. He asks:
What do
you do?
BUT
he’s getting off at
the 9th Floor…
What will you say?
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After Today’s Presentation …
You will understand:
9 Why a good elevator pitch is so important
9 The role of elevator pitch in building
a strong brand
9 How the Gartner tool helps you craft
an elevator pitch that is brief, relevant
and memorable.
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Who Uses the Elevator Pitch?
Salespeople
CEOs
Investor
Investor
Relations
Relations
Recruiters
Marketing Teams
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Why Do Most Elevator Pitches
Miss the Mark?
They are too long
and too technical.
Says one client…
“We have
an elevator pitch
but it requires
a building
with 700 floors…”
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Elevator Pitches Fail to
Address Business Outcomes …
They often lead with bragging points or product
features vs. business outcomes.
“We are the
leading provider
with 54 offices
in 29 countries.”
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“Our universal
IP Secure
VPN Client
supports 64-bit
operating
systems.”
Structure Your Elevator Pitch Using the
Gartner Story Framework Known as S.I.R.
R
Audience
Attention
Span
I
S
Resolution
How do you solve
the problem?
Impact
Quantify the impact that the
situation is having on the
prospect’s bottom line …
Situation
Cite the dilemma, pain,
difficulties or complications
that the prospect faces …
Drama, Suspense and Resolution
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Keep it Simple …
Situation: There’s an acute water
shortage and rationing is coming.
Impact: Lawns are turning brown;
gardens are dying.
Resolution: At Gardens That Grow,
our landscapes consume 90% less
water of traditional gardens. And
you never compromise beauty.
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Let’s Look at Some Examples
in the Technology Sectors …
SKYPE
• Businesses take particular care of the minutes
they spend on international calls.
• If they don't, costs can quickly skyrocket
out of control.
• Skype complements fixed-line services
with solutions for business that help them
predict and contain the cost of communications.
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Here’s an Example from Cisco…
CISCO
• Business travel consumes
significant time and expense.
• In fact, these costs have
more than doubled over
the past decade.
• Cisco TelePresence simulates an "in-person"
experience that lets you collaborate with others
anytime, anywhere, with everyone — from the
comfort of your home office.
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And One from a Professional
Services Firm …
VANTAGE PARTNERS
• Studies show that the number of corporate
alliances increases by about 25% a year –
yet the failure rate of these alliances still
hovers at 60% to 70%.
• Vantage Partners helps manufacturers improve
the success of their alliances – with techniques
that consistently improve relationships and grow
revenue for years to come.
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And for a Storage Management
Solution …
EMC
• Companies store excessive
information, because much
of it is redundant. In fact,
duplicate data is one of IT’s
top contributors to inefficiency.
• EMC deduplicates data at the source –
from remote offices and dispersed systems –
before sending it over the storage network,
improving network utilization, speeding up backup
time while conserving storage.
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Treat Your Elevator Pitch as any Other
Corporate Standard
Elevator pitch speaks
to overall business
performance improvement
IT Consulting and System
Integration Firm
Corporate
Service
Lines
Media
and
Entertainment
Money
Management
and Trading
Retail
Service
Offerings
Editorial
Management
Systems
Trading
System
HR
Scheduling
Solutions
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Next-level elevator pitch
speaks to improving
business performance in
specific vertical markets
Next-level elevator pitch
speaks to how applications
improve business
performance in specific
business functions
Elevator Pitch Development Process
What
Brand +
Business Objectives
Your
Company
Workshop
Who/Why/When
Customer Issue(s) +
Impact on Their
Business
Your
Target
Market
Test & Revise
Your
Solution
Pitch
How/Where
Offering(s)
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Summary of Best Practices
Use your elevator pitch to tell at story.
• Address Situation, Impact and Resolution
• Start with customers; end with outcomes
• Quantify your value proposition
• Try beginning with a provocative statistic
(like we saw with Vantage Partners)
• Treat as any other corporate standard
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Participant Poll Question 3:
Question: The ideal elevator pitch is:
- About two minutes
- No longer than one minute
- 30 seconds or less
Please select the one option that best fits your situation.
Responses are confidential
© 2008 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
Gartner is a registered trademark of Gartner, Inc. or its affiliates.
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Recommended Reading
• Dataquest Insight: Is Your Messaging Customer-Centric? G00162341
• Dataquest Insight: A Quick Test Reveals Whether You Are MarketingOriented G00162760
• Marketing Essentials: How to Craft the Perfect Elevator Pitch G00163867
• Marketing Essentials: Creating Effective IT Sales Presentations G00165925
• Dataquest Insight: Selection Criteria for IT Professional Services Providers
Are Less Variable Than Providers Think G00131950
• A Customer-Centric View of Services ITSV-WW-DP-0524
• Operationalizing the Services Brand ITSV-WW-DP-0536
• Apply Choice-Based Trade-Off Analysis to Determine What Really Influences
Buyers G00126075
• Marketing Consulting Services to Business Buyers G00136425
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