My favorite non-sleazy elevator pitch template

With real examples!

Pitching yourself without feeling sleazy is one of the most common fears I hear from coaches, consultants, freelancers, solo-business owners, and pretty much anyone who needs to promote themselves or their work.

If this sounds like you, don't beat yourself up. It's really tough to promote yourself, and very few of us come by it naturally.

Today, I am sharing the template that I have used for years to help clients create a powerful, credible and 100% non-sleazy elevator pitch. It’s the product of hundreds of conversations with people who, despite their impressive backgrounds and achievements, struggled to articulate their own brilliance in a way that felt authentic and compelling.

The 6 ingredients of your elevator pitch

This template has six ingredients. I’ll talk you through each of them below:

1. What you do

Are you a writer? An executive coach? A digital marketing consultant? A graphic designer? Don’t overthink this part. 1-3 words usually covers it.

2. Who you do it for (aka your target audience)

You probably work with certain types of companies and clients more than others. If you’re a writer, perhaps you write mostly for finance companies. If you’re a graphic designer, you might specialize in wellness brands. Again, think 1-3 words.

3. Three problems your work solves

Think in terms of business problems that you help clients solve, not tasks that you execute. If you're a marketing consultant, for example, you might solve problems like:

• Helping clients generate high-quality leads

• Creating content that resonates with buyers

• Measuring marketing effectiveness

Many tasks might go into that work, but it’s better to focus on the problems that those tasks solve. This will help clients see the real value in your work. Which statement do you think is more powerful:

1. “I help clients schedule social media posts, write articles, and send marketing emails.”

2. “I help clients generate high-quality leads for their sales funnel.”

The first statement focuses on tasks. The second statement focuses on the problems that those tasks solve. See the difference?

4. Three work-related strengths

What are you really good at? Don’t worry, you don’t have to brag in your pitch! You do, however, need to confidently speak to your biggest work-related strengths — the things you do better than most people. What are they?

For example, are you really good at translating complex topics into simple sentences? Creatively visualizing ideas? Organizing projects and keeping tasks on track?

Write down your top 3 strengths. If you aren't sure what to say, ask your clients or people who know you well. An assessment tool like CliftonStrengths® might also give you some clarity.

5. One outcome of working with you

You’ve already outlined the problems that you help clients solve. Now, identify one positive outcome that clients can expect when they work with you to solve those problems.

Let’s revisit the problems our fictional marketing consultant might solve for clients:

• Helping clients generate high-quality leads

• Creating content that resonates with buyers

• Measuring the effectiveness of marketing programs

One outcome of solving those problems might be that the client has closed lots of new business (i.e. earned more $$$!) from all those new leads our consultant generated.

Wherever possible, focus your outcomes on things your clients care about.

6. A reinforcing success story

The last ingredient of your pitch is a success story that reinforces your credibility and proves that you can actually practice what you preach. A strong reinforcing story is extremely reassuring to potential clients and could be the key to landing a new deal. Take the time to think of a good one!

Focus your story on a problem you solved or an outcome you achieved for a client or previous employer. For example, our marketing consultant might say:

“I helped one client launch a newsletter that gained 5,000 subscribers in just six months. 50 of those subscribers have already turned into paying customers.”

That sounds great, Robin, I hear you thinking, but how do I actually put all this information together into a pitch?

Without further ado, I give you…

The non-sleazy elevator pitch template

I’m <your name>, and I’m <what you do> who helps <your target audience> <outcome of working with you>.

Many of my clients struggle with <problem you solve 1>, <problem you solve 2> and <problem you solve 3>.

My <strength 1>, <strength 2> and <strength 3> have all served me really well when working with <your target audience>. For example, <reinforcing story>.

That’s it. That’s the template. Spoken aloud, it clocks in at 30-60 seconds, depending on how much you embellish.

To help bring the template to life, here’s an example of how I used this template to create my own pitch:

I’m Robin, and I’m a marketing mentor who helps coaches, solopreneurs, and creative rebels market themselves in a way that feels authentic to their values and gets results for their business.

Many of my clients struggle with articulating their strengths, finding the right clients, and creating a marketing plan that’s actually sustainable for the long-term.

My background as a marketing executive, dedication to non-sleazy marketing, and experience running my own business have all served me really well when working with my fellow self-employed humans. For example, I helped one of my clients completely overhaul her website messaging to better align with her strengths and ideal clients, which helped her attract more of the clients she actually wanted to work with.

And here’s one from an actual client (with a few non-essential details changed for privacy reasons):

I’m Kate, and I’m a writer who helps overstretched marketing teams produce high quality work without a lot of hand holding.

Many of my clients struggle with more work than they can handle and juggling multiple, vastly different writing priorities at once. They don’t have time to actively manage freelancers, too.

My industry experience, independent working style, and knack for articulating nuanced ideas in a clear, human way have all served me really well when working with these companies. For example, one of my clients runs a weekly newsletter for small business owners. I’ve written several articles that made it into the most-read content for the year.

Not too shabby, right?

But wait, there’s more!

This pitch template includes a built-in one-liner. It’s just the first line of your pitch:

I’m <your name>, and I’m <what you do> who helps <your target audience> <outcome of working with you>.

The one-liner is perfect for conversational settings and times when you have to introduce yourself quickly. As the conversation progresses, you can weave in other elements from your pitch as needed. That’s the beauty of this template. It’s designed to be flexible, so each sentence can stand on its own or as part of a whole.

There you have it. A short, non-sleazy pitch that highlights your strengths, speaks to your clients’ challenges, and clocks in at less than a minute.

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