As I said in a previous entry, you really need an elevator pitch.  You need them for investors, you need them for customers, you need them for partners and service providers and for employees.  Perhaps most of all, you need it for yourself.  What are you doing and why are you doing it and what value does it deliver to the universe?  Your pitch sums this all up. 

Here are my tips about “The Elevator Pitch”

• GET ONE!
• GET ONE!
• GET A GOOD ONE!
• (Get an elevator pitch, I’m really NOT kidding)
• This is the discipline that tells you if you have a clear, concise, communicable vision
• Rafe Needleman once wrote“Writing is God’s way of showing you how sloppy your thinking is”

So how do you get a good Pitch?

• Be clear on your VALUE to the customer

• What do people care about when you tell your story?  It may not be what YOU thought they would care about – so LISTEN!
• If you listen, you may hear your big opportunity
• Is there a role for your Big Friends in your pitch (if they’re crucial to you, there probably should be)

• You should be able to be clear about being “disruptive” vs. sustaining (but don’t say you’re disruptive, it’s like saying you’re“new and improved”)
• You need it to be memorable, crisp, clear
• It’s really hard to get a good one, so keep working on it – you’ll “hear it” when you know it, so as you’re working on your pitch, tell it to a lot of people who like you and who can tell you honestly if they “got it” at first.

Once you  have a pitch, practice, practive, practice!  You need to be able to rattle it off without thinking about it – because when you get the “big break” in the actual elevator, being incredibly nervous won’t make you forget it!