My shtick is marketing, not sales but a big part of being and staying in business is selling yourself, your service and your company.
What is an elevator pitch?
Think of the elevator pitch as your personal 20-second television commercial. An easy to understand and concisely delivered summary designed to promote you and your services to potential clients. It should impress your listener enough to stay lodged in his mind, and open up the door for questions and a future transaction. In spite of its name, the elevator pitch can be used anywhere your time is limited or where you don’t want to become a bore, such as a cocktail party or golf tournament or other social events that provide the opportunity for potential clients. Regardless of circumstances, it should take no longer than an elevator ride to the top floor of a 5 story building — hence the name.
Here’s why you need one. Whether at a cocktail party or in your office, when talking to a new person you have a limited amount of time to create an impression so don’t waste it on trivial comments. Get to the point! Impress upon your listener in very few words that you are the one they ought to be dealing with for their travel arrangements. Once you got it pat, it will be remarkably easy to successfully introduce your pitch as most people want to talk about travel – be glad you’re not an insurance agent or a chimney sweep.
To prepare your elevator pitch you need to form the ideas that you want to incorporate. Write them down, it should run no more than about 100 words. Read it aloud to yourself and make sure it sounds natural, not stilted or worse, a shopping list of services. You don’t need to memorize it word for word, but having a firm sense of its structure and key points will keep the impact and the words flowing smoothly.
The successful elevator pitch isn’t a job interview. It is important to paint a broad portrait of your service but the key is to outline the potential benefits to your listener. What’s in it for him/her? If you gear your pitch towards the listener’s needs, you’re more likely to gain their trust. My approach is to suggest a possible benefit and I immediately back it up with a sentence explaining how I can create that outcome. As a travel agent, you might try something like… “I make sure that my clients get the best service available, I have direct access to the heads of Customer Service with most of the cruise lines,”
In the example above, you quickly made it clear that you know your market, are well connected and able to deliver more than your competition. With a little work, you can create a compelling statement that ensures you are remembered but first, make sure you understand clearly what your USP (unique selling proposition) is – what makes you different and better than your competition or online booking service.
Remember that this is not about selling a holiday, you are selling you and your company long-term so skip the details and stick to the essentials. Let your enthusiasm show, be dynamic use action words and don’t forget to close with a call to action. “I would love to help you enjoy your holidays more; can I give you a call?” If the contact information is not immediately forthcoming, don’t get pushy, back off and give them your business card and ask them to contact you when they are ready for a “good and professional” travel agent/service.
When I am successful in getting contact information I ALWAYS make it a point to email them in the morning, thank them for their attention and ask if it would be ok to place their name on my mailing list. Play your cards right, exude success, be courteous, and soft-sell yourself, chances are you’ll do business.
Here’s my elevator pitch, let me know what you think…
Opening hook: “We’re a pretty unique marketing organization developed specifically to aid the travel industry to make money by keeping and developing new clients in creative ways.
Backing up the statement: We spent a lot of time figuring out the needs of the community and subsequently, we developed the appropriate technology and our full-service approach.
Showing our credentials: Now, we use those tools to custom tailor solutions to each customer – we’re doing quite well making sure that our clients are able to compete in today’s market. Remember NAME, it’s cheaper to keep a client than to develop a new one!
Soft-sell closing: Can I give you a call in the next few days to talk about your needs?”
Enjoy the rest of the summer and behave,
Best
Frank
