Is Your Pitch Ready?

How do you introduce yourself quickly to a potential client or recruiter?  Here are three ways to do it.

1. Elevator Pitch

Almost everyone in business had heard of, and perhaps practices, the “Elevator Pitch.”  If you haven’t learned the technique, use this simple formula:

• Name
• Claim
• Demonstrate
• Differentiate
• Call to Action

How does it work?  Here’s an example:

Hi, I’m Ed Barr (name). I can help your company increase its productivity, efficiency and profitability through more effective communication (claim). I once worked with Cognizant, a global IT services company, to on-board hundreds of employees to the USA by teaching them to communicate better in western business settings (demonstrate). Unlike other communication coaches, I have also been a Chief Marketing Officer at a global CMU startup (differentiate). I can help your company.  Let’s meet next week over a cup of coffee to discuss your internal and external communication needs (call to action).

2. Log Line

If you want something shorter, you can use a log line.  What is a log line?  It’s Hollywood shorthand for a statement that gives the essence of a script very quickly.  Often it answers the question, “What if?”  Here are a few famous log lines. See if you can guess the movies they represent.

• What if an eight-year-old is left alone by his family over Christmas and must protect his house from a pair of burglars?
• What if a man must struggle to travel home for Thanksgiving with a shower curtain ring salesman as his only companion?
• What if the aging patriarch of an organized crime dynasty transfers control of his clandestine empire to his reluctant son?
• What if a killer shark unleashes chaos on a beach community and the local sheriff, a marine biologist, and an old seafarer hunt the beast down?

Do you recognize those movies just from the one-sentence description? Here’s the log line to the elevator pitch above: “What if you could increase your efficiency, productivity, and profitability through targeted and measurable communication techniques?”

3. High Concept

Sometimes, we need an even shorter message, a high concept message.  What is it?  Again, it’s Hollywood shorthand that scriptwriters use to sell ideas to producers.  Here are a few you might recognize; see if you can guess the answers:

• In space, no one can hear you scream.
• There are 3.7 trillion fish in the ocean and we are looking for one. 
• Romeo and Juliet are played out on New York City’s West Side.
• Snakes on a plane. 
• This is Hamlet but with lions.

Do you recognize those very successful movies just from a few words?  How would we apply high concept to the elevator pitch/log line above?  Simple: “Effective communication leads to profits.”

It’s a good idea to have one of these short form pitches up your sleeve when you meet someone new or are pitching your services to new clients.  If you have questions about the pitches, please respond through the newsletter and Ed Barr, the MSCF Communication Coach, will respond to you.