The Elevator Pitch

The Elevator Pitch

What is an Elevator Pitch?

An Elevator Pitch is a concise, carefully planned, and well-practised description of your social enterprise that anyone should be able to understand in the time it would take to go from the first to the tenth floor in a lift.

What an Elevator Pitch is not:

It is not a sales pitch. Don't get caught up in using the entire pitch to tell the investor how great your product or service is. The investor is "buying" the business, not the product. Tell him/her how you will run the business.

Developing your Elevator Pitch

Six questions your Elevator Pitch should answer:

1. What is your product or service?

Briefly describe what you will sell. Don’t go into excruciating detail.

2. Who are your customers?

Briefly discuss who you will sell the product or service to. What market are you in? How big is the market?

3. How do you expect to make money?

Not much more to say about that one! But it’s crucial in a social enterprise – you may be convinced that people want or need your product or service – but will they (or someone on their behalf) pay for it?

4. Who is behind the company?

"Bet on the jockey, not the horse" is a familiar saying among investors.Tell them a little about you and your team's background and achievements. If you have a strong Management Committee/Board of Directors, tell them who they are and why they are ready to run a social business.

5. Who are your competitors?

Don't have any? Think again. Briefly discuss who they are and what they have achieved. Successful competition can be an advantage – particularly in a niche market. They areproof that your business model can work.

6. What is your competitive advantage?

Simply being in a marketplace with successful competitors is not enough.You need to effectively communicate how your business is different and why you have an advantage over the competition. A better understanding of customer needs? Key partners? Strong community relationships?

What your "Elevator Pitch" should contain

A "hook"

Open your pitch by getting the investor's attention with a "hook." A statement or question that makes them sit up and take notice.

About 150-225 words

Your pitch should go no longer than 60 seconds - eventually! With your first attempt, keep it as short as you can – definitely less than five minutes (a very slow lift!) – it will take time to perfect your pitch.

Passion

Investors expect energy and dedication from entrepreneurs.

A request

At the end of your pitch, you must ask for something. Do you want their business card, or do you want to set a date for another meeting?

(adapted from www.businessknowhow.com)

Social Business Consulting’s Elevator Pitch

Here is our elevator pitch – a work in progress – and living proof that it’s not easy to do!

Social Business Consulting helps people to set up and run great social businesses.

Our customers include social entrepreneurs, voluntary and community organisations, local authorities and regeneration initiatives.

We will make money by offering a variety of consultancy services which help people to work out what social business means for them. So we’ll help people to write business plans, we’ll run training sessions on all aspects of social business, and we’ll help local authorities to make it easier for people to succeed in social business.

The social enterprise sector is growing rapidly – with an £18 billion annual turnover it’s bigger than UK agriculture. We think that if it’s to continue to grow, the way people are supported needs to develop and improve – and that’s where we come in.

Both of us are passionate about social business and the benefits it can bring. We both have practical first hand experience – good and bad – of what it’s like to run a social enterprise – and that comes across in the way that we work with people.

Our main competitors are WYSE Link, a number of regeneration initiatives and several consultancy firms. But we think there’s room for us all – and we believe in partnering with our competitors where we can – instead of taking them on.

We believe we can make this work because we stand out – because of how we do business, the way we communicate, and what we stand for.

We’ve developed plans for a start-up course called Starter for Ten, and we’d really like you to consider sponsoring it. Can we take your address and send you more details?

(274 words and 90 seconds – a bit too long – but not a bad start)