Savor the Success - Business Network for women entrepreneurs

When Psi Bands were selected as a finalist for Count Me In’s Make Mine a Million $ Business, we had to create and deliver a three minute elevator pitch to a live audience. We were instructed to utilize the following tips for delivering a winning three-minute pitch. We ended up winning.

Background

Why do they call it an “elevator pitch”? The idea is that you have a brief period of time to pitch a prospective client. Know what you are going to say in that finite time – without  hesitation – to convince that person that they need to talk to you further. You should have a one minute pitch and a three minute pitch ready to go at all times. You just never know when and where that next opportunity may arise, including in an elevator!

Presentation

• Let your audience see your personality;
• Inform, entertain, and market yourself and your company; 
• Show your passion;
• If humor works for you and your business, use it;
• Use confident language such as “We are,” We do,” and “I will” instead of “We’d like to”, “We’re thinking about,” and “If X, then I will”.

Content

• Design your pitch to meet your audiences’ criteria;
• At or near the beginning of your pitch, clearly state your name and the name of your company;
• Provide information about why you started your business. What are you passionate about and committed to? Why?
• Tell a story to make a point. Stories grab attention and are memorable.
• Ask for the sale.

Example

Following was our pitch to the Count Me In audience (a big thank you to Carla, my biz partner, for writing this all out for me to share with you. She was the one who delivered it. We previously only had this in bulleted form. You never want to read notes when giving your pitch to a live audience. You of all people need to know your business and should be able to deliver it with a bulleted list).

Here’s what was delivered:

How many of you have experienced:

• Motion sickness?
• Nausea from chemotherapy?
• Morning sickness?

I did, several months of severe morning sickness. That’s when my friend and now business partner, Romy Taormina, told me about the benefits of using wrist acupressure to relieve nausea. 

At my baby shower, we discussed how these gray, elastic acupressure wrist bands worked, but were lacking functions and were not cute whatsoever.  We knew we could make something better. That’s when we had our Ah-Ha moment, looked at each other and excitedly said, “We’re going to be on Oprah!”

My name is Carla Falcone and I am Co-Founder and President of Psi Bands, drug-free acupressure wrist bands for the relief of nausea most commonly caused by motion sickness, morning sickness, chemotherapy, & anesthesia.  I have 15 years marketing experience working with local, regional, and national clients.

In July 2006 Psi Health Solutions, Inc. was incorporated and in just one year we created a new product, obtained FDA-clearance, secured national retailers, and launched nationwide with Psi Bands.

We are shaking up our competition with a superior product, hip designs, and appealing packaging. Psi Bands are not only drug-free, reusable, and affordable but they are unique to any other product on the market in that they are adjustable, waterproof, and fashionable with 5 designs from which to choose.  In fact, our most recent design celebrates women in biz with $1 from each set sold benefiting Count Me In.

Our clients include 5,000 Rite Aid stores nationwide, 500 Longs Drugs stores, Amazon.com, Drugstore.com, and we just launched internationally last month.

Remember when we said, “We’re going to be on Oprah!”?  I’m thrilled to announce that this month Psi Bands is featured in “O” magazine and on Oprah.com!  Thanks to that feature, we’ve landed three new retailers just last week, including REI.

(NOTE: reminder that the pitch changes depending on the audience.)