A Sudden Sense of Enlightenment
The Art of the 30 Second Elevator Pitch (First in a Series)
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I’ve struggled for a long time in my business with how to get someone’s attention, quickly summarize all that I have to offer and convince them to learn more. I understood that people’s attention spans were shrinking while the noise was getting harder to break through. All I wanted was a clear path to making my business stand out from the crowd, and I bet you do too.
You might be asking yourself, What does this have to do with a Sudden Sense of Enlightenment? Well, it certainly wasn’t that I experienced a sudden sense of enlightenment on how to write the perfect sales pitch! Boy do I wish, but no. I did a lot of research and a ton of trial and error to figure out how to craft excellent pitches.
As a business coach, it’s my job to do the heavy lifting to make lives of entrepreneurs like you easier. I am responsible for solving problems. So I’ve taken all that research and experience and put together an online course that breaks it down into 6 quick and easy steps. Over the next several weeks, I’ll be publishing that course here and this is the first installment and the first step to your Sudden Enlightenment.
If you don’t want to miss a thing, you can subscribe to The Library at the Business Witch Academy here and to the Magically Thriving Business weekly recap newsletter here. If you’d like to get your hands on the 7 AI prompts, 2 Canva Whiteboards to organize your thoughts and 2 free bonus eBooks you can either purchase the full course from the Business Witch Emporium right now, or you can become a paid subscriber to my Substack where you’ll receive each lesson as they are published plus the bonuses. Don’t worry, you don’t have to decide right now, I’ll give you these links again at the bottom of this story. Right now, it’s time to join Ophelia in the classroom…
Quick Read Snapshot For Those in a Hurry
Master the art of the 30-second pitch by focusing on clarity and brevity. Just like a Haiku, your pitch should distill your business’s essence into a concise and compelling message, giving just enough information to intrigue and engage your audience. By emphasizing the key solution you provide, rather than overwhelming details, you can create a moment of sudden enlightenment that leads prospects to ask for more.
Give Them Just Enough
Why Every Second Counts
Where Do You Use a 30-Second Pitch?
Quick Sell Mastery Overview
Give Them Just Enough
As the morning light streamed through the stained-glass windows of the Business Witch Academy, I prepared the classroom for today’s lesson. The ancient bookshelves brimmed with tomes of business enchantments and entrepreneurial magic, creating the perfect backdrop for a lesson I hoped would inspire sudden enlightenment.
“Welcome, bright minds!” I announced, scanning the eager faces of my students.
“I wrote a Haiku for you about the art sales!” I cleared my throat and recited:
Give Them Just Enough
Information; to make good choices
Tell me more about it
I received some polite applause and continued, “The philosophy of haiku is to focus on a brief moment in time to bring about a sense of sudden enlightenment. Like this Japanese art form and philosophy, using brevity to craft a clear, concise sales pitch for your business can create a sudden sense of enlightenment in your audience, transforming them from unaware to intrigued prospect.
“Ophelia, please stand up and tell us about your business in 30 seconds or less.”
Ophelia fluttered to her feet, her wings causing a slight rustle as she took center stage. I started a timer and with her usual exuberance shining through, she began her impromptu pitch, her voice a bubbly cascade of enthusiasm:
“Hello, lovely beings of the Business Witch Academy! I’m Ophelia, and I — well, you see, I have these little wonders called enchanted acorns. They’re not just any acorns, mind you. They’re, um, special! Yes, special because, well, they’re enchanted! You know, with, uh, enchantments.” As Ophelia rambled on, the class exchanged puzzled looks. “Magic stuff! They could be, like, really handy for — all kinds of things. Moms love to give them to their kids on their birthday. And business owners use them as good luck charms. And I can even drill a hole in the top so you can wear it as a necklace so it doesn’t get lost. And they’re $7 a piece, or was that $17? Oh dear, I must check my notes. But anyway, they’re absolutely magical, and you definitely want one! Or more! Or maybe your friends do? Who wouldn’t want a little magic…” *bbrrinnggg*
The timer went off and interrupted Ophelia mid-sentence. Her pitch, brimming with her characteristic bubbly personality, unfortunately, left everyone more bewildered than informed. “Thank you, Ophelia. It’s clear you love your product. Show of hands, who’s ready to buy an acorn from Ophelia?”
Ophelia excitedly raised her hand, but as she looked around the room and didn’t see any other hands, she slowly lowered hers looking crestfallen. “Ophelia, don’t be too disappointed. There isn’t anything wrong with you or your acorns. We just need to clarify your message, so you can take your audience from unaware to intrigued prospect begging you to tell them more. Luckily, that’s exactly what we’re learning about today. You’re going to master the art of generating a lead in 30 seconds or less by creating a sudden sense of enlightenment and intrigue.”
Why Every Second Counts
Ophelia’s hand shot up in the air, along with the rest of her. Ever try to lift your pinky finger without moving your ring finger? Ophelia seems to have a similar relationship between raising her hand and fluttering her wings. I nodded in her direction to proceed. “30 seconds, it’s so little. Surely you must be exaggerating the importance.”
“I don’t know about you, but my inbox is overflowing. Correspondence from colleagues, clients, prospects and partners. Newsletters — good ones — with lots of great information. Mailing lists, sales, deals, limited time offers — some of them, I’d like to take advantage of. Do you ever feel overwhelmed by the sheer quantity of information that is thrown at you every day?” Heads all around the room were nodding.
“I certainly do! When we’re marketing our businesses, it’s important to keep that feeling front and center. What information are you communicating to your clients and prospects? Is it that important? Do they want it? How quickly can you get to the point?
“In today’s fast-paced world, having a 30-second pitch, also known as an elevator pitch, that is on point is more important than ever. And not having one? Well, it will cost you in wasted time and missed opportunities.
“Did you know that in 2013, Microsoft conducted a study that calculated the average attention span of adults online, then compared it to data from 2000. They concluded that the average adult in 2013 had an attention span of eight seconds, down from twelve seconds in 2000.
“When I say you have 30 seconds to get someone’s attention and make a good impression, I am exaggerating, but not in your favor.”
Ophelia slumped back into her seat looking defeated.
“Let’s go back to my Haiku:
Give Them Just Enough
Information; to make good choices
Tell me more about it
It has a second verse that goes:
Clear and Concise Words
Laser Focused Messaging
Customers Buy Now
Prospective customers, like all business leaders, don’t have time to spare and don’t want all the details until they believe you might be capable of solving their problem.”
Ophelia raise her hand again. “Ok, people are busy. I get that, but how often are we really going to use this? I don’t know about you but I’ve never considered spending the day riding up and down in an elevator talking to people. Although now that I think about it, it does sound like fun. Do people really do that?”
“Intermission…”
“Oh!! I love Intermissions!” Ophelia interrupted.
“Shh…Ophelia, we’re breaking the 4th wall! You’re not supposed to be here.”
“Oops…”
“If you don’t want to miss a thing, you can subscribe to The Library at the Business Witch Academy here and to the Magically Thriving Business weekly recap newsletter here. If you’d like to get your hands on the 7 AI prompts, 2 Canva Whiteboards to organize your thoughts and 2 free bonus eBooks you can either purchase the full course from the Business Witch Emporium right now, or you can become a paid subscriber to my Substack where you’ll receive each lesson as they are published plus the bonuses. Don’t worry, you don’t have to decide right now, I’ll give you these links again at the bottom of this story…”
Where Do You Use a 30-Second Pitch?
I shook my head and rubbed my temples for a moment. She had a point, even if it was a little too literal. “For the record, I don’t recommend elevator riding as a strong marketing technique. However, understanding and properly deploying a 30-second pitch isn’t just about old fashioned, pushy sales techniques such as cold-calling, door-knocking, and speeding through conversations at a business card exchanges.
“Our interactions are far more nuanced than that and our ability to summarize what we do concisely comes into play in a myriad of ways in our modern world.” I picked up a marker and walked up to the white board. “Let’s brainstorm some ways we might make a first impression on someone. Call out your answers.”
Meeting new people in person
Networking Events
LinkedIn Headline
Email signature
Social media bio
Landing page on website
Google Business Listing
Commercials in networking groups
Paid ads
Online Profiles
Bio at the end of an article
I capped my marker and turned to face the class as the ideas trickled to a stop. “That’s an excellent list. Gets you thinking a little doesn’t it? When meeting a new person, the very first thing we do is introduce ourselves. 5–10 simple little words that can make all the difference in the world. First impressions matter right? Those 10 little words we rattle off every day without a thought about them or that we plop down in our online profiles and bios. Maybe it’s time to think about it. What exactly are you saying? Is your message making the impression you want?
“Masters of Japanese Haiku can create a sense of sudden enlightenment in just 3 lines, seventeen syllables.
Everything I touch
with tenderness, alas,
pricks like a bramble.
-Kobayashi Issa
Here and there, rushing
A spinning top goes nowhere
Direction needed
-Cheryl Evans
I have bills to pay
With my cash; my whole life long
Pursuit of Escape
-Cheryl Evans
If you think you sell
Everything; to everybody
Wake up! You’re dreaming
-Spider Graham
We can take inspiration from this form of poetry and carry it with us when crafting a pitch for our business. Sometimes, less is more and what is left unsaid is more important than what is said. They say that enlightenment isn’t something that happens in time, but happens when time stops. Slow down. Say what you need to say. Take a breath and in that pause give your prospect a moment to process what you’ve told them and watch a sudden sense of enlightenment bloom like a cherry blossom on their face.
“You see, just as a Haiku distills a moment’s essence into seventeen syllables, a good elevator pitch condenses your business’s core into a potent, compelling snippet. Just as Haiku zooms in on the smallest details to transform the mundane into something magical, mastering the art of the pitch, is a practice in hyper-focusing on one enchanting word at a time, discarding anything unnecessary to keep only the powerful.”
Quick Sell Master Overview
“I hope you’re all sufficiently inspired. It’s time to get to work. To master the art of transforming strangers into interested leads in under 30 seconds, you need a thorough understanding of the sales pitch framework and each of its 5 components.
Your profession
Niche Target Market
Calls to Action
What problem you solve
Hooks
Over the next few weeks, we’ll look at some examples and do some practice exercise on the key components. Then we’ll put it all together into one powerful, concise statement about your business.
I’ve also prepared a couple of awesome bonuses for my enrolled students along the way. I’m a strong believer in working smarter, not harder. I’ll provide AI prompts whenever possible to help speed you along. I’ll also provide you with an AI prompt at the very end that will craft entire sales pitches for you.”
Ophelia’s hand flew up. “Yes, Ophelia?”
“If there is an AI prompt that will create our sales pitch for us, why can’t you just give us that and let us out early today?”
“I understand the desire to just skip to the end, drop a prompt into a chatbot and go about your day. However, to use the prompt you have to provide the AI with specific bits of information about you and your business. Your outputs will only be as good as your inputs. So if you can’t do things like clearly identify a target market, or understand what their pain points are, you won’t receive good quality pitches from the AI and you won’t even know that the pitches are off the mark. You’ll go about using these pitches, not making any sales, and wondering what you’re doing wrong.
Let me just remind you — how hard is it to craft a beautiful and powerful Haiku? Just 17 syllables and it’s considered one of the most challenging form of poetry in the world.
Crafting a short, clear, pitch for your business is one of the most difficult forms of business writing you’ll ever undertake. A clear understanding of each element will go a long way to using the final AI prompt in a way that benefits you and your business. That’s it for today. Class dismissed.”
I hope you enjoyed the first installment of my “Quick Sell Mastery” course.
Just a reminder: If you don’t want to miss a thing, you can subscribe to The Library at the Business Witch Academy here and to the Magically Thriving Business weekly recap newsletter here. If you’d like to get your hands on the 7 AI prompts, 2 Canva Whiteboards to organize your thoughts and 2 free bonus eBooks you can either purchase the full course from the Business Witch Emporium right now, or you can become a paid subscriber to my Substack where you’ll receive each lesson as they are published plus the bonuses. *The paid versions are also full color with even more amazing graphics.
The Library 📖 at the Business Witch Academy is a reader-supported publication. Knowledge is my product. Like you, I have bills to pay and loved ones to care for. If you ever have, or would, pay a college or university for sharing knowledge with you, and you find value in my writing, please consider a paid subscription so that I can continue with my work.
Stay Magical,
Cheryl
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