Whether you want to call it a “30-second mission statement”, a “one-sentence pitch”, an “elevator pitch”, or a “why choose me statement”, we are fundamentally talking about the same thing: a concise and enticing explanation about what you do.
The birth of the term “elevator pitch” is at this point an urban legend with everyone wanting to claim a little bit of the story.
Here is the version we like the best: the elevator pitch dates back to the golden days of movie making and Hollywood. Screenwriters would attempt to get meetings with producers by cornering them in elevators, and would have the time between floors (somewhere between 30 and 90 seconds) to convince the producer to take a look at their script and have them agree to a second meeting.
The writers had to summarize their entire movie script in a concise and enticing pitch that would hook the producer and leave them wanting to know more.
But how important is it for you as a speaker to have one?
According to the Founder Institute’s Adeo Ressi, an expert in helping entrepreneurs get their business up and growing, having a 30-second pitch is very important.
“You need to grab the listener's attention quickly, and communicate all of the core elements of your idea in a clear and concise manner...Remember: If you can't describe your business in one-sentence, then you don't understand it well enough.”
-Adeo Ressi, Founder Institute
Being able to quickly share with event organizers and potential audiences what it is that you do, and why that’s important, is essential in getting booked and building a fanbase.
So how can you create a statement that gets to the heart of your message effectively?
They have created a formula to help you define what it is that you offer and how that benefits the audience in one short sentence, which we have adapted to help speakers perfect their “Why choose me” statement.
The Founder Institute has created a “madlib” style formula for helping entrepreneurs figure out their one-sentence pitch. See their formula below:
The Founder Institute's One-Sentence Pitch Format:
My company, __(insert name of company)__, is developing __(a defined offering)__ to help __(a defined audience)__ __(solve a problem)__ with __(secret sauce)__.
This might be a bit too broad and business-specific, so we have adapted the formula for speakers:
Adapted: The SpeakerHub “Why Choose Me?” Formula
I offer_(presentation type)__ to help __(a defined audience)__ __(desireable result)__ with __(specific insight)__.
Let’s look at these terms in a bit more detail:
Here are some examples:
"Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away."
-Antoine de Saint-Exupery
If you follow this formula exactly, you might end up with a pitch that is much longer than 30-seconds. We instinctively want to include as much relevant information as we possibly can, but this is not the ideal.
Keep it short.
Start with all the details you want to include, then edit your pitch down so you are left with something concise that can be said, and understood, in 30-seconds.
Here are some tips from the The Founder Institute for creating a concise one-sentence pitch:
Once you’ve narrowed down your topic specifically enough to figure out what your unique angle is, finding your audience and the event organizer who need you will become a lot more straightforward.
We would love to include some of your “Why choose me” statements as examples in this post. If you’d like to be featured, email us with your statement.
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