A great pitch proposal does more than showcase your product and market opportunity, it leads to action.
Here are some common mistakes to avoid so you can create a narrative that connects with your audience.
1. Too pushy
An elevator pitch should be a conversation where you highlight the relevance of the services that your small business provides, it’s not about closing a sale. You want to connect with your audience, you don't want everything from beginning to end to sound like a pushy sales pitch. You will scare your audience away if you force your services on them.
2. Too Wishy-Washy
When people ask you what you do and you start to give your pitch, don't be too vague. If you only give a generalized picture, without providing concrete examples, it may not make sense to your audience, leaving them more confused than anything else. Most people will be either too polite or shy to ask questions. Make everything clear from the outset.
3. Overly-complicated
Although you don't want to be too vague, you also don't want to launch into an overly detailed explanation of your small business's activities. This will not bore your audience, but it will also be time-consuming as you try to fit###a href="https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/248375"> too much information into a small window of time. Even if your company provides multiple services you need to focus on one to maximum two. You might want to choose the offering that your small business needs to expand upon. If you try to include everything you may end up getting nothing.
4. Too Run of the Mill
How does your elevator pitch differ from your competitors? You need to ensure you make your business stand out from the crowd immediately with your first few opening lines or your audience might well be thinking: ‘heard it all before.’ A good way to go about this is to think about how your small business would fill in the gaps of this sentence: 'we are the only business that ________' or 'our specialty is ________'.
5. Too Cheesy
You want to stick to the facts and not try to sound like something more than you are. For example, when someone asks you what your small business does the answer should not be too tacky, such as replying 'we make dreams come true', or too grandiose 'we turn mom and pop shops into world-famous multinational blue-chip corporations.' Be truthful about what your small business can do for its clients.
6. Too Much Jargon
Some people try to show off by using lots of complicated business terms only understood by those within the sector. You should only use plain language in your elevator pitch to describe what your small business does, as jargon will just confuse your audience and won't get your message across.
7. Trying to Tell your Story
You are not there to tell the rags to riches tale of how your small business got where it is today. Get straight to the point and let your audience know what your small business does.
