Even though your business may be completely Internet based, there are still numerous times when you need to give your elevator pitch (elevator speech), or your 30-second commercial that explains what you do and how you do it. It's called an elevator pitch because it's generally something you could tell someone in an elevator between floors in response to the person's inquiry about what you do. Whether you're a guest on a teleclass, hosting a teleclass, being interviewed for a radio talk show, creating a podcast, talking to prospective clients on the phone, striking up a conversation with a stranger at the grocery store, or simply writing web copy for your website or blog, you need a clear, concise way to explain your business to others.

I've seen savvy service business owners take this concept to new levels as follows: --using their elevator pitches as audio introductions on their websites; --printing their elevator speech on their business cards; --creating a flash movie with audio, graphics and animations that they copy to CDs to send to prospective clients or post on video sites like YouTube; and --creating a TwitPitch where they're asked to condense their elevator pitch to Twitter's 140 character maximum to respond to a request for proposal.

So, even if you don't attend face-to-face networking meetings, which has traditionally been the most commonplace use of an elevator speech, having a ready-made elevator pitch at your disposal continues to be an important marketing tool that you need to continuously sharpen.

I have a simple template that I use with my clients to build their elevator pitches. By completing the following sentences you can create your own elevator speech that will provide a crystal clear answer to what you do.

1. You know how some (the customer you are aiming at)...

2. Experience (the problem)...

3. Which means that (the outcome of the problem)...

4. Well I do/can do is (your job/product/service)...

5. Which means that (the solution)...

6. The benefit of which is (the outcome of the solution)...

7. Would you like to know more?

As an example, here is the elevator speech that I recently helped one of my coaching clients design for her Virtual Assistant practice:

You know how some personal and professional coaches do a wonderful job with coaching but feel completely overwhelmed with all the day-to-day administrative details involved in running their businesses...which means that they try to do it all alone and let opportunities and follow-up contacts fall through the cracks, involve themselves in tasks that prevent them from going out and finding new clients, and dig themselves deeper and deeper into a never ending to-do list. Well, what I do is take over all the administrative headaches that coaches want to get rid of and don't like to do....which means that I am expertly managing all the day-to-day business operational details from my home office as an independent contractor...the benefit of which is my clients get more energy from working fewer hours, more clients, greater profits, more balanced lives and more passion for their work. Would you like to know more?

Practice makes perfect, so create several versions of your elevator pitch until you find just the right combination that flows effortlessly from your lips, without any stuttering or stammering. A well-crafted 30-second elevator speech is a beautiful tool to have, and you never know where you may get the opportunity to use it!

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