Empowering People
& Revitalizing the Community

Anatomy of the Pitch: Selling Your Business in 60 seconds

Posted on 3/23/2016 by Ray Lamboy in LAEDA News
image

On Monday, March 14, 2016, our EDTP students had their class on Business Plan VII with Raymond L. Lamboy, LAEDA’s President & Chief Executive Officer. The Business Plan VII class teaches the essentials of the elevator pitch, and how it should gain the attention of prospect investors in a short time. The elevator pitch should be a summary of yourself and your business, a ”hook” or highlight the unique part of the business, and three proving statements of your business’ distinctive features. Mr. Lamboy started the session with a presentation that taught the students the elements and importance of the elevator pitch. After the presentation, each of the students practiced their sixty-second elevator pitch and received critique from their classmates and LAEDA’s staff on how to improve their pitch. Then, students performed their pitch a second time. Mr. Lamboy explained that when delivering your pitch, it is important to not put so much information so people can easily follow and understand the message you are intending to deliver. Mr. Lamboy encouraged the students to “be comfortable with their role in the company when making the pitch and think of what they really want to accomplish when giving your pitch to prospect investors.”

Remember that when making your elevator pitch you are not selling, instead you are trying to show your business’ value and make a good impression that will lead to create enough interest to have potential investors to invite you to learn more about you and your business. “You can put dollar values to show relationships that you have created, but remember you are selling an investment when making your pitch,” Mr. Lamboy emphasized. John Rigu, the owner of Fresh Start Moving Services, made a great point when he expressed during his pitch, “My team combined has fifteen years of experience in the moving industry and we have all the tools and skills to perform our jobs safely and take care of all your moving needs. Caring for customer satisfaction is what sets us apart; we won’t break your stuff. You will not be treated as a one-time customer; we have careful expertize so if you are looking for your moving needs? Look no further.”

When giving your pitch you do not just want to describe your business, but also explain who you are. “Your experience or years in your industry and listing industry names makes people catch their interest on you and your business,” Jamila Powell, Technical Assistance Coordinator for the Entrepreneurial Development Training Program at LAEDA emphasized. “Hurst Auto takes pressure off of your purchase. Let us connect you with your next vehicle by saving you time, helping you buy your quality car at the price you need and in a timely manner,” Troy Hurst, owner of Hurst Automotive Group: Auto Brokerage explained. Troy Hurst clearly indicates that his three proving statements shows how he takes the pressure off his customers and really helps them to meet they're needs.

Mr. Lamboy explained that the elevator pitch needs to be organized and in a logical order to show what results the business will benefit an investor. Mr. Lamboy explained that it should be done in a format like: “We are going to invest in this x, y, z and it will result in this x, y, z.” Karen Watts, owner of Karen Kreations: Nutritional Smoothies follow the format when she made her speech as follow: “Did you know that thirty-one million Americans skip meals everyday because of being too busy? I have a solution in order to maintain a healthy lifestyle, a meal in a cup, which is nutritional and healthy.” “I have the recipe, process and mobile convenience of a truck to help you with a healthier lifestyle choice one sip at a time, let our nutritional smoothie truck make your day sail smoothy.” Here Karen lists how much she is trying to help customers and she brings a real life situation that many of us can relate to. Jamila Powell added a great point to the conversation when she said, “when you state what people will really care about, it is much easier to get potential investors to become your customers.”

After the practice round, the students had a second chance to present their elevator pitch. However, this time around each classmate the students played the role of investors, and were to invest into two businesses based on the pitch of other students. The student that received the most money for his/her pitch won a prize. By the end of the class all the students learned the importance of pitching should be to have your unique value proposition with three proving statements that will explain how your business will perform.

LAEDA offers the Entrepreneurial Development Training Program, which is a nine-week course conducted three times per year on a wide range of fourteen areas of general business practices and many subject areas. Our next session starts in Spring. We welcome you to join our community of successful entrepreneurs, the program is free, but you must qualify. Visit our website at www.laeda.com and or call (856) 338-1177 to learn more.

 

 

 

  


Archive