Your First Contact is Like an Elevator Speech | Your Unique Selling Proposition (USP) | Forum

One of the most important documents that you need to create, even before your business plan is the "elevator speech."

Most people aren't interested in your entire business plan.  They are interested in what is different about you that would make them interested in your story.  The elevator speech is a motivating factor, the hook that gets your audience into the room. It's the catchy jingle that gets people to pay attention to the ad. It's the best parts of the business plan, without the boring details. It is the place for the excitement, not the place to include all the technology, buzzwords and explanations.

Your elevator speech should definitely include a statement of your Unique Selling Proposition, a statement of what makes you uniquely the right business to provide what you offer.  It should be able to be condensed into a single two or three paragraph presentation, short enough to be memorized, or read easily within a few minutes.  That's how it got its name, it's a speech that's short enough to be presented during the course of a fairly short elevator ride. The elevator speech condenses your business concept into something that can be presented in about a minute or so – essentially, the parts that matter, the very essence of the business.

The elevator speech skips the hard-core details, and gets straight to the heart of what it is about the business that really gets you excited. That's what this speech is about. You don't need the proof of concept here, that comes in the full-length presentation. The elevator speech is the commercial that gets people interested. It should be inspirational and creative, hitting the high points of your business concept, and should accomplish the following:
Hit the high points of what it is you do
Summarize the problem/solution aspect of your concept
Create excitement on the part of the reader/listener
Describe the profit potential without having to bring out charts and graphs
Tell why you/your company are well positioned to accomplish your goal
End with a call to action, which is the listener asking for more information.

The first couple of sentences are the most critical, and should present your basic concept, as well as your business's unique qualifications. If you can't tell what it is you do in two sentences or less, then you need to simplify your concept. There will be plenty of time to get into all the details later, once you've captured your audience's interest.

Make it interesting, with enough information to cause your listener to ask a question about it, or to ask you for your business card, so they can follow up with you.

The following might be a good elevator speech for hidden-marketing-assets.com :

"The economy and business climate are making small business struggle for new business and profits.  At Hidden-Marketing-Assets, we utilize a proven, 20+ year old system to  help the owners of our small business clients to identify and exploit marketing 'assets' they already own and can immediately put to work to increase profits and sales without increasing sales and marketing expense.  The system is so effective we are able to guarantee results."

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