How to write a pitch to introduce your business?

‘Hi - I’m Karen and I share my over 30 years business experience as a Business Mentor. I love to work with female business owners that already have a ‘good’ business but want a ‘great’ business. I do this with 1-1s, groups and in workshops. What I do with each business is different. I coach and encourage, to get the best out of you. It's all in there, I know it, I bring it out and watch your business grow!’

Do you understand what I do and who I do it for? Was it clear? And more importantly could you explain it to somebody else who might need my services?

As business owners we need to be really good at describing what we do. At answering the question ‘What do you do?’

You probably think you are good at introducing your business but are you? Do you get people recommending your business, just from your pitch?

Have you ever asked people for feedback: Did they understand what you do from your introduction pitch? Was it clear? Did they get it?

Giving a great introduction pitch is important for a couple of reasons:

1. At the end of the day we all want new clients or customers. If the person you are pitching to is not quite sure what you do - are they likely to become a customer?

1. You want people to remember you, so that they can recommend or refer you when the time it right. You never know who people know! if they are not quite sure what you do - are they likely to be able to recommend you to a friend?

When you work for yourself this is your chance to make a great first impression. So don’t waste it!

We can get asked this question in lots of different situations: by family and friends, at networking events, an actual elevator pitch or by anybody we are talking to.

Let’s look at each one of these…

Family & Friends
Do you struggle getting family and friends to understand what you do? I know I do. In my past it was easy - I used to work for big corporations, nobody really knew what I did but it didn’t really matter. They would say Karen works for a big company, she has a great salary, the company is doing well on the stock exchange etc.!!

This was enough for most people as it showed I must be doing well (little did they know that there is more to life than being on the corporate hamster wheel and a big pay cheque - but that’s another story!).

Networking
At some point at networking events you will have to introduce yourself and most people dread this. If you’ve worked in bigger businesses you might know this as the ‘creeping death’! Waiting for your turn and getting more and more anxious.

I’ve heard lots of people introduce themselves and their business at networking events, some are good at it but a large majority aren’t. Mainly because they are not prepared, there is no structure to what they are saying and they waffle on. They go on and on so much that you haven’t a clue what their business is and you switched off ages ago!

What a waste of an opportunity to make a first impression!

One business I know who organises networking events have even stopped letting people introduce themselves because it was talking so long and now they give each person a quick introduction. The difficultly with explaining somebody else’s business, is getting it right!

Elevator Pitch
Have you heard of an elevator pitch? The idea is you get in an elevator (or in the UK we say ’lift’) and somebody famous like Deborah Meaden or Sir Alan Sugar get in the lift and they say to you ‘So what do you do’.

You then have the time from when the lift sets off, until them getting out of the lift to answer the question, say 30 seconds!!

Not long to make a lasting first impression!

Anybody else
This could be somebody you vaguely know that you bump into in the street, a neighbour or a friend of the family. The point here is that you wouldn’t explain your business in the same way, at a networking event or in the elevator pitch but you need to explain in a simple, clear way they will understand. Because you never know, who they know - and it could lead to your next super customer!

Whichever scenario you are in, when introducing yourself and explaining your business you need to be:

• Clear

• Keep it Simple

• Keep it to the point

• Don’t use jargon

• Don’t use acronyms

The Formula
I have created a formula for writing an introduction pitch, which I teach to business owners on one of my workshops. At the end of the workshop each business owner has an introduction pitch which is unique to their business and which they can use in different situations.

The formula has two benefits:

1. For you to gain a greater insight into your business

2. To allow your customers/clients to understand your business better

The caveat I would say is that you don’t talk to your family and friends in the same way as you would introduce yourself at a networking event. So adapt the pitch, use different words but basically get the same message across.

Also your pitch doesn’t have to be perfect first time and there’s nothing wrong in practising. Read it out loud, read it to other people. How does it sound? Are you happy with it?

So what’s the formula….

1. Write 1 sentence to describe your business

2. Write 1 sentence to describe your USP (Unique Selling Point)

3. Write 1 sentence to describe your Super Customer

4. Put these 3 sentences together to form an introduction pitch

It’s not easy…

Now this might sound easy but it’s not. Most business owners I know aren’t clear on what their USP is or know who their Super Customers are. If you are not clear, how can you describe each one in a simple, clear sentence?

BTW - Super Customers are very different to Ideal Clients as they are based on real people and not something you have made up. I always say that Ideal Clients are like looking for a needle in a haystack (impossible to find!) but Super Customers can be found because they are real!

Remember as business owners we need to be really good at introducing ourselves and describing our business. As they say - ‘you only get once chance to make a first impression’. Don’t screw it up!

Do you want to work ‘on’ your business and not only be clearer about your business but get your introduction pitch right? Then I’m organising more workshops soon, get in touch and I’ll contact you with the dates.