Going Up! How to Deliver a Successful Elevator Pitch

R5 Labs
3 min readFeb 23, 2023

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An elevator pitch is a short, persuasive speech used to sell your product, business, or yourself. The term “elevator pitch” comes from the idea that you should be able to make your pitch in the time it takes to ride an elevator, or anywhere from thirty seconds to two minutes.

Elevator pitches aren’t just for entrepreneurs pitching to prospective investors. Elevator pitches can persuade a boss, win over clients, and sell strategic ideas or processes in collaborative work settings. The key to a persuasive elevator pitch comes down to simplicity and precision.

Before you start, consider who you’re talking to and what you want to achieve. Are you trying to sell them on your product? Are you trying to get them to invest in your business? Or are you just trying to introduce yourself and leave a good impression? Tailor your pitch accordingly. If you’re talking to potential customers, focus on the benefits of your product. If you’re talking to investors, focus on your business model and how you will make money.

A vital key to a successful pitch is to keep it concise. With just a few seconds to make your case, make it count, and avoid going off-topic. Frame out the key sell and zero in on that. Use simple language that everyone can understand. Avoid jargon and technical terms. Don’t saturate your pitch with too many granular details.

Additionally, storytelling can help paint a vivid picture and is a great way to maintain a listener’s attention and make a pitch more engaging.

Particularly, strong openings are vital to a successful pitch. If you’ve lost your audience before you’ve even started, it will be hard to win them back. This is not unlike comedians starting with a strong opening joke or talented musicians starting with a strong hit song.

Generally speaking, people are looking for ways to enhance, augment, or improve their own lives and projects. Focusing on their benefits rather than going too heavily into features is recommended for a successful elevator pitch. When pitching, use powerful, action words and descriptive and illuminating language. Entertaining while informing is key. The more you can make connect your idea to real, tangible, actionable benefits, the more likely you are to receive a green light. There’s no substitute for practice. The art of persuasion can be used in many areas of life, and these skills can be honed in almost any setting.

Finally, it’s important to remember that people are looking to solve problems and take action. An elevator pitch should provide quantifiable solutions. In Leo Rocco’s transformational book, Winning At Product Development, he explains, “Like me, you may enjoy the immersion of problem-solving; however, understanding that you can’t just sit on it and ponder forever is critical.

This is where the discipline of focusing a few hours on solving a problem and then engaging the broader team for help is key.” In the same way, a successful elevator pitch should have an actionable item, a direction, or a strategy to pursue. It’s not just the idea. It’s how to put transformational ideas into action.

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R5 Labs
R5 Labs

Written by R5 Labs

Product development. Reimagined.

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