Be honest, on a scale of one to ten, how ready are you to give an effective answer when a new acquaintance casually asks, ‘So what do you do for a living?’
At this point, you need to be ready to do a bit more than just mutter something nondescript and confusing about property investment.
An elevator pitch is so named because it describes an answer that is brief enough to be delivered in the course of a 30-second elevator ride.
That would be easy if brevity was all there is to it, but the trick is, it must also deliver enough information and be compelling enough to hook a potential investor.
Since people ask the question, ‘What do you do?’ all the time, especially if you first ask them, these everyday encounters are golden opportunities to make connections. Are you really making the most of them? How many great connections could you have made if you had been prepared? The point is, from now on, no more missed opportunities!
These connections could easily turn into investment dollars to fund your future property deals. But this can only happen if you first give proper attention to what you will say when the networking opportunity arises.
A Useful Elevator Pitch Outline
There are a number of different possible outlines for your elevator pitch, so before we look at a specific one, let’s briefly consider how having an outline can help you.
Preparing an outline helps you to organize your thoughts.
Keeping your outline in mind rather than memorizing a speech word-for-word makes it easier for you to be flexible and conversational, not robotic.
You’ll find that a mental outline is good enough to remind you of the main thoughts that you want to share.
Brandon Turner of Bigger Pockets suggests, “a great elevator pitch should contain 6 elements:
| A Great Hook | Get them interested right away or lose them altogether. |
| Your Company Name | Or are you just running this out of your mom’s garage? |
| Your Goals | What is it you are trying to accomplish? |
| Why YOU Matter | Go ahead.. brag a little. Why are you different from the rest? |
| What’s In It For Them | People are selfish… give them what they want. |
| A Call to Action | Steps 1-5 make no difference if you don’t give them the opportunity to respond!” |
If that outline seems too complicated, you can boil it down even further to the following simplified outline:
Fundamentally your elevator pitch should answer three things:
- Who you are
- What you do/want
- What benefits you bring
These outlines should be enough to help you come up with and craft your own elevator pitch.
I know what you are thinking; it would be nice to see an example, right? Wow, never satisfied, are you? 🙂 OK I’ll give you three examples.
3 Useful Elevator Pitch Examples
The following examples are not all specifically for property investors but they can give you an idea of how a service that you are familiar with can be conveyed as an elevator pitch.
In each case, I’ve left out the call to action because that is something that you need to decide for yourself and can be changed depending on the circumstances.
For the first example, think back to the time when Airbnb first started and they were looking for funding…their elevator pitch might have been something like this.
Airbnb Elevator Pitch
Most tourists booking online care about price, and hotels are one of the highest costs when traveling.
On the other hand, platforms like Couchsurfing have proven that over half a million people are willing to lend their couches or spare bedrooms.
We have created a platform that connects travelers with locals, letting them rent out rooms, or even entire places. Travelers save money, and locals can monetize their empty rooms- we just take a 10% commission.
Here’s another example, an elevator pitch for our company, Apartment Investor Pro.
Apartment Investor Pro Elevator Pitch
You know how apartment syndicators need a website to get investors to trust them, but setting up a website often takes many months and can be a nightmare?
Our company, Apartment Investor Pro, offers a service where multifamily investors can have a professional website live within as little as a day or two. We have designs and content ready to go, so you can just sign up and plug in your business details and you’re ready to start sending investors to your professional site to make a great impression.
Now let’s take a look at a possible multifamily syndicator pitch. I’m sure you can improve on it but it gives you a start.
Multifamily Syndicator Pitch Example
You know how it’s hard to find a good place to invest money since banks pay terrible interest rates, and the stock market is so risky? Most people realize real estate is a great investment but don’t want to deal with the hassles that come with it.
I help people to invest passively in apartment buildings, where they don’t have to deal with the day-to-day operations, getting them great returns on their investment dollars.
By choosing apartments where we can add value and improve cash flow, we get great returns for our investors.
Putting It All Together
The small connections and chance meetings that we encounter regularly are often the start of something much bigger.
You’ll build your list of potential investors through many different strategies, but these face-to-face encounters are a great place to start. It’s like scattering seeds. You never know which ones will grow.
To be successful, you need to have a clear objective in mind (letting people know what benefits you offer), and a simple outline you can work from to deliver your elevator pitch.
Whether your call to action directs the prospect to give you a call or visit your website, you probably realize that anybody who is interested in connecting with you will want to search for you on Google and check out your website.
When they do, do you have a professional online presence that represents you in the best light possible?
Apartment Investor Pro websites are designed specifically for apartment investors. They can be easily customized for your needs and content. Plus they come at a fraction of the cost that you would incur if you had your site built from scratch.
Feel free to check out more info at ApartmentInvestorPro.com