Is the Elevator Pitch Dead? Enter the Twitpitch
For those that aren’t familiar, an elevator pitch is the amount of time you have when you meet someone in an elevator to describe your business. The idea is that the person that you meet may be able to help you out, but only if you can communicate the gist of your business plan in about 30 seconds or so.
I never thought this was that important until, that is, I discovered that one of my skills was babbling. Oh yeah, and stumbling. To overcome it, I joined a bunch of business networking group, each offering the opportunity to present and improve your elevator pitch. Some were more strict than others about adhering to a particular time, but I found that they all helped me to hone my message when I stand up in front of people.
Recently, however, I’ve been reading about this phenomenon called the “Twitpitch.” The theory is that social media tools like Twitter are becoming more prominent in the psyche of business owners, customers and prospects. Under that paradigm, a 30-second to 1-minute introduction seems downright Shakespearian in its length when compared to the 140 characters that a microblogging service like Twitter allows. So why not adapt your elevator pitch to a Twitptich and be on the bleeding edge of business introductions?
Sounded fabulous. Why waste anyone’s time with technology babble when they really just want to know in a few words (well, few characters?) what it is that you do?
Here’s the problem: it’s hard.
Don’t get me wrong. It’s a great exercise in precision, and forces you to choose your words carefully so as not to waste any in coming up against your 140 character limit. But remember, we’re talking characters and not words. By that logic, here’s what my old elevator pitch would look like:
Hi, my name is Mariano and my company is Avelient. We are technology foundations for better business. What that means is that we help our…
That’s 140 characters.
I didn’t even get to explain what I mean by technology foundations for better business. It can encompass so many things. Does that mean I put together networks for new companies? Do I develop web sites? Do I support company’s desktops? My name is a problem because it really doesn’t give any idea what I do, which is fine, but it makes it all the more difficult to choose the right words to describe my company because I have at least one less to work with.
So how do we trim the fat and come up with a great introduction to your company?
Starting your conversation
It’s really about drawing people in, right? You want people to want to know what you’re all about. So when you’re constructing your Twitpitch, you should really be thinking about how it will start a conversation for you. A good friend of mine, Terry Viney, emphasized this in a recent seminar of his that I attended. Rather than:
My company makes web sites.
Think of your pitch as a conversation starter:
I help people communicate on the web.
What’s the difference? The first is just a statement, and if the person with whom I’m talking doesn’t know anything about web sites, the conversation could die. The second prompts the question “well, how do you do that?” and emphasizes how you help people, and not just what you do.
If you ever get the chance to go hear Terry speak, do it. He is a great speaker with the ability to help you hone your message in such a way that it will begin prompting a response from the people you meet.
Here’s the Story of a Lovely Tweetie
So, I decided to put together a video showing me thinking about my Twitpitch. Granted, I took some creative license, but you’ll probably have some “um…ahhh…” moments yourself as you’re re-thinking your own pitch.
So let’s review what I came up with:
- Technology Foundations for Better Business (42 characters) – Our current catchphrase, it doesn’t do very much in describing what we do. This one’s out.
- Web Foundations for Better Business (35 characters) – Though it now has the word “Web” in it, I’d still glance sideways at anybody who said this to me.
- We help you to communicate on the web more effectively (52 characters) – Better. At least it’s a little more of a conversation starter than the previous two.
- We help you build your web communication strategy (49 characters) – That’s pretty close to what we do, and I didn’t waste a lot of characters to do it. Could be a good fit for us.
Which did I like the best? I’m not convinced I liked any. But at least it got me thinking about it in a way that’s different than what I did before. And memorizing that many characters shouldn’t tax my brain all that much.
What’s your elevator pitch? Have you worked on a Twitpitch? Has it helped people to better understand what you do, or has it lead to more questions by the customer about what you do? Leave some of your own company’s Twitpitch ideas here to share!
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