Where’s Your Elevator Pitch?
You get in the elevator to head up to the 12th floor. A prospect you’ve always wanted to talk to enters at 3. He recognizes you and says, “I’ve seen you before.What do you do for the institution?”
Can you reply in 8 seconds or less? Can you say what he “wants to hear”? That’s about how much time you have to grab someone’s attention or leave a first impression.
Make sure you have all your elevator pitches down pat and ready to use them when the opportunity comes… whether at a reunion, legacy society luncheon or celebration.
An “elevator pitch” is a conversation starter, not a monologue. It is a concise, carefully planned, and well-practiced description about your product or service that anyone should be able to understand in the time it would take to ride up in an elevator.
Here’s an example: Did you know you don’t have to be wealthy to make a significant gift?
It is not a “sales pitch.” Don’t get caught up in using the entire pitch to tell the prospect how great your gift plan is. Your prospect is “buying” you and your mission, not the gift plan. Instead, tell the prospect how great your institution is.
The language for each elevator speech should be informal, whether it’s describing what you do or summarizing a gift plan.
How to develop your Elevator Pitch?
We’ve already done it for you in our must-have, very handy Ultimate Quick Reference Planned Giving Pocket Guide.
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