Elevator pitches have four success factors: the hook, the purpose, the what and where, and the delivery.

First, find a hook—something about your product or service that people would remember and take to heart. "We tutor kids others call too difficult." "When government or industry wants to find the newest businesses, they come to us." "We are one of the nation's biggest suppliers of parts for old Corvettes."

Stan Mandel supervises Wake Forest University's Elevator Pitch Competition, so he knows pitches. He suggests using analogies. If you're planning a large, discount pen store, you might say "We will be a Wal- Mart for pens." For CellTunes, it might be "We'll be the Home Shopping Network for music." It helps people quickly understand your firm. Great pitches or concepts aim to get the listener to ask questions or take some other form of "next step." Stan suggests different pitches for different sorts of audiences—investors, customers, suppliers, and so forth.

Second, focus on the purpose your product or service serves for the customer. Do not talk skills ("I am a graphic designer."); talk about how you make customers happy ("I produce designs that sell books!").

Third, tell the listener the business's situation: where the business "is at"—if it's a start-up, state what the business is seeking (funding, partners, distributors, etc.). If it is operating, tell the listener where he or she can buy the product or service.

Once your elevator pitch is written, you need to become conversationally perfect in your delivery. You want to be able to give the pitch or concept dozens, even hundreds, of times. Yet it is important that the pitch does not sound memorized. It needs to sound like regular conversation, preferably a conversation whose topic excites you. To achieve this, you must master the material, and then keep working on it so that it becomes a natural part of what you say to others. Have family and friends listen to it. Consider using a video camera to see how natural you seem when making the pitch. Remember, the elevator pitch is often the first real insight people have about your business, so it is essential to have a pitch that flows and sells for you.