The 30 second commercial (aka elevator pitch) is a key tool in any business professional's toolbox.  The term was coined from the idea that if you stepped in to an elevator with a potential customer, what do you say to explain what you do and to win their business before the elevator ride was over? Crafting your 30 second commercial is an excellent exercise for any business professional.  The 30 second time limit helps you focus and distill your message to the essence of your business, and the value that you give your customers.  Further, a short speech will give you more time to listen, which will give you a better opportunity to figure out how you and your business can serve this particular person.  The goal of your 30 second commercial should be to start a conversation, and permission to continue it.

Tips on crafting your 30-second commercial

When you make your 30-second commercial, try to include these ideas:

1. Write it down. Unless you're an unnaturally gifted speaker, writing it down makes it easier to organize your thoughts and fine tune your message.
2. WIIFM -What's In It For Me?  Ultimately, this is what the person listening to your 30 second commercial is waiting to hear.  Make sure you answer that in the simplest terms.  Don't try to cram too much information into this - keep it simple.  If you spark the listener's interest, they'll ask for more.
3. Tag line. Bonus points if it rhymes. I know it sounds corny, but tag lines help make your message stick. 
4. Make it memorable - Using a statistic or a personal story helps people relate and remember.
5. Be enthusiastic - if you're not excited about your business, why should others?
6. Call to Action - Make sure you have a clear call to action, a 'next-step'.  It can be 'buy now', 'call for more information', 'visit the website', 'register', etc.  Don't leave it up the customer to figure out what the next step is to give you business.  Make it easy and guide them.

Polishing it off

1. Practice it!  Practice reading it out loud.  Once it's been ingrained in your brain, practice it some more memorized.
2. Record yourself.  Either use your computer or a voice recorder.  Some phones can also be used as a voice recorder.  When you listen to a recording of yourself, you hear all the little things you do when you're busy focusing on delivering your speech.
3. Video Tape yourself!  It's amazing (and can be painful) both watching and hearing all your little habits and speaking ticks as recorded on a video.  Video gives you fantastic feedback on how others perceive you.  It's pretty common for laptops to have web cams.  They are great tools for this method of improving your speaking skills, and you can do a video practice session in 5 minutes (a minute to get setup, a minute to record, and then three to review).

Practice with real live people!

Once you're ready to share your 30 second commercial with the world, where can your practice it with real live people?  Business networking groups like ours,  San Diego's Wealth In Networking , gives members a chance every week to practice their commercial.   The structured meetings guarantee that you will practice your public speaking skills.  Further, it's a friendly environment to practice, full of other supportive, high quality professionals , eager to help you out.

Another side benefit of membership in a business networking group is that the other members become an extended sales force.  Your 30 second commercial also doubles as a mini-sales force training session!

Make another one!

You should have at least two elevator speeches:  one for your grandma (assuming grandma doesn't understand your profession), and one for somebody in your industry.  However, that doesn't mean you should stop creating speeches after you have your first two done.  Keep on trying new ones, that feature different services, promotions, products, benefits, etc. and have the best ones committed to memory.  How do you know which ones work the best?  If you're a member of a business networking group, use the practice at the weekly meetings to fine tune your message.  Track the number of responses or leads that you get with each commercial, and pretty soon you'll be able to see which one is more effective. 

Once you have your polished 30 second commercials, it will be a valuable tool in opening up new conversations, getting more leads, landing more customers, and ultimately growing your business.