Elevator Speech Required

While associated with an Internet startup based in San Francisco, I watched the company's charming, charismatic and extremely confident CEO make the company pitch to a parade of investors and customers. His description of the primary differentiation between his company's product and those of the competition would usually take about 20 minutes. He'd use his hands throughout, making one gesture for the competition (no, not that one) and one for his company's product. He'd compare and contrast, using his hands as props as he spoke. Quite a bit of the presentation discussed subtleties between the company's product and those of the competitors.

Whenever anyone else associated with the company had to give the company pitch, I'd hear them struggle. The presentations never went as well with anyone else giving the pitch. These other people would end up talking about "you know, the thing so-and-so does with his hands" or simply "the hand thing." The subtleties were muddled or lost. What happened?

Looking back, the fact that it would take 10 minutes to differentiate the company's product should have troubled me more than it did. I hadn't heard the phrase "elevator speech" before this experience, but once I heard the term, it crystallized why I had such an empty feeling just hours after the presentations.

The CEO happened to have the ability to make people think they "got it", when in fact there was nothing to get. But the company needs more than a CEO with reality distortion capability. The CEO and the company desperately needs an elevator speech – a 10 second articulation of the company's value proposition and differentiation which anyone at the company can give.

All companies and all products and services need an elevator speech. Consider the complexity your explanation of why a customer should buy your product, how your product is different than another, or why an investor should invest. If it isn't simple, it isn't going to stick with your listeners. If it's subtle, it will be lost. Anyone – including secretaries, office managers, facilities personnel – should be able to articulate why the company and its product(s) are unique and worth buying.

The next time I consider investing my time or money in a project or company, I'm going to shake hands with the appropriate person – perhaps the CEO or VP of Marketing – and ask "what's so interesting about your company/product?" I'll be paying as much attention to how long the answer takes as to the actual answer itself. A good story is a short story, or at least one that can be told in short-form. If the next explanation I hear takes any more than 5 minutes, I'm going to conclude that the person doesn't actually have an explanation. And when I do get a simple, sensible positioning message from the CEO or VP of Marketing, I'm not going to stop there. I'm going to ask the same question of everyone I meet, in private. And, I'm going to compare answers. The answers at a healthy company – one where everyone is on the same page – will be consistent and ring true. That's what I'll be looking for.