Partner Article

Are you ready to close in 60 seconds?

That’s right, it’s conference and exhibition season – and with it comes a handful of some of the shortest, but most important, conversations of your career.

You may cringe at the mention of the term ‘elevator pitch’, but it does describe a valuable skill. The high profile business professionals you are pitching to are likely to have heard countless other pitches before you have even gone in for the first handshake.

How can you make yours count?

The elevator pitch scenario is pretty simple. You manage to get in an elevator with your dream prospect and have the time it takes to go from the bottom to the top floor to sell yourself, your company, and close the deal. Now imagine that your dream prospect goes up and down in the elevator all day, and that everyone and anyone who wants to close a deal with the said prospect has a chance to spend some time in that lift. This is essentially what life is like for highly sought after prospects attending a conference and exhibition. Here are some top tips for a standout conference pitch:

Engage quickly

The real purpose of the elevator pitch is to quickly engage your prospect. Aim to inspire the person you are talking to and, if possible, encourage them to ask a question. This question provides you with the opportunity to expand further and position your product or service as a solution to the particular challenge your prospect is facing. At this point you can start to take control of the conversation and use our question based approach to diagnose the situation and uncover real value.

Keep it short and easy to follow

The golden rules for pitching are to keep your ideas concise, and to make sure what you are saying can be easily understood. Think, would someone who has no clue about the industry you work in, understand what you mean? Break it down and deliver the detail in manageable chunks.

Stick to a structure

Your pitch should follow a logical progression of ideas. It should make complete sense, so the prospect is immediately able to see the value of what you’re selling.

Don’t leave any room for questions; the pitch should contain everything they need to know.

Don’t get swamped in the details

Your aim is not to get as much information over as possible. Grab attention with the parts of the conversation you know your target wants to hear. Decide exactly what your value is to them, and tell them in no uncertain terms how you can assist their business.

Give the basic overview of what you do, and what sets you apart from your competitors, and then step back and wait for them to respond to see if it is something they are interested in.

Practice, practice, practice…then practice some more

Your pitch has to come with confidence, and as long as you don’t begin to disconnect with it (or end up reciting it), practice as many times as you can. Perhaps take a video of yourself and see if you have any questions at the end after watching - or test it out on friends and colleagues to see if you’re transmitting the right information.

If you do practice it, remember to make sure you sound energised and passionate.

Hearing someone recite a pitch word-for-word is uninspiring and could lose the sale.

Sixty seconds may not seem like much time to talk someone round, but if your ideas are good enough and your value is clear, there should be no competition. Be natural, be confident, and you won’t need any longer.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by durhamlane .