10 x Tips for a Compelling 40 Seconds Elevator Pitch: For Awesome Small Business Owners!

Your 40 Second Elevator Pitch! Being Cool under pressure with a smile works! (Thank you to Fallout and GoG.Com for the awesome pic of Vault Boy!)

As a Small Business Owner coming up with a compelling pitch to promote your business can be a massive headache at times.  I think as a Corporate / Employee it’s really easy.  You just get up and say what someone has told you to say – and if someone doesn’t like it, WHO CARES?

You can blame your boss or the company and it’s not really you up on stage.  You are just a cog in the machine of your company.

BUT like what I have experienced, when it’s just you and your business – it’s you up on stage bearing your soul! And how hard is that?

I think at the start it can be hard, but with continual preparation, skill and refinement you can get really good at it and deliver a sharp compelling message.

Talking to more my own Personal Business Networking Experiences and also help building / running the 4Networking Australia Community, I find that as you get more experienced your 40 second rounds get shorter.

That is you use less words and you get more business! To be clear too, I don’t mean “Say Less”, you “Say More” in “Less Words”.

I think the trick is really learning how to get across the power of what you say to get a conversation started.  A newbie mistake is trying to sell you from stage – no way! You just want to say enough to get a conversation started and get people thinking about a great referral for you (including them) – that is the point of a compelling 40 seconds round in my view.

For example, talking my own personal story. When I first started, my 40 seconds needed lots of work.  Now I think it’s really good and I can do it very easily on the fly.  Here is my before and after:

[Ed’s Old 40 Seconds – Said with Nerves and Fear]:

Hello Everyone.  My name is Edward Zia and I am a Business & Marketing Coach & Mentor.  I help Small to Medium Businesses with their Marketing and help them grow their businesses drawing on my career experience, my entrepreneurial experience and also using top strategies that I have used over the years.  My clients consider me creative and reliable and I am very keen on referrals to Small to Medium Business Owners that can benefit from my skills.  I really do like to meet open minded people in that working with them would be a great win / win for each other.  If you are interested, I would love to have a chat – so please contact me in the break and we can have a meeting to discuss your needs.  Thank you from Edward Zia – Business & Marketing Coach and Mentor.

[Even that put me to Sleep!]

[Ed’s Current 40 Seconds – Said in 20 seconds with tons of confidence]:

Hello Everyone! The name’s Edward Zia – Small Business Marketing Mentor and I love helping my awesome clients get more profitable clients and master their Sales & Marketing.  I am looking for awesome people like yourself that would love working with me.  Thank you so much from Edward Zia!

[Yay!]

That actually takes me about 15 seconds to say and I get way more of a response that my original. It even leaves me to time to give an authentic compliment to someone in the room.

I hope that examples help and here are my Top 10 Tips from over the years of an Awesome 40 Second Round:

1) Aim to do it in 20 seconds – More time the better.

2) Givers Gain – Think about who you can support in the room with your time available.

3) Be really direct and cut to the chase – 100% Fluff Free!

4) Don’t read –  Say it naturally, much more convincing.

5) Tone and Body Language is critical – Say it like you love it and believe it!

6) Smile as you speak – It makes the words come out easier.

7) Use common Street Language – Big Words don’t work!

8) Watch the audience – See how they take to it and keep tweaking.

9) Change it all the time – Especially with a similar audience, make it always interesting.

10) Do it all the time – Keep improving and never slow down!

I hope you like this one and my tips give you a massive hand out there in the field.

Thank you from Edward Zia – Marketing Mentor who Loves a Sweet 20 Seconds Round.

P.S. This article is dedicated to an Awesome IT Services Lady who knows who she is.  Keep up the great work and wrote this with you in mind!