A woman spotted Picasso sketching outside a café in Paris.

The woman asked Picasso if he might sketch her, and charge accordingly. Picasso kindly obliged. In a few minutes he handed her an original Picasso.?

?And how much do I owe you?? she asked.

?Five thousand francs,? he answered.

?But it only took you three minutes,? she said.

?No,? Picasso said, ?It took me all my life.?

Apply this to your elevator pitch – whilst it may be obvious to you what goes into creating the service or product you provide is, does your customer know?  Do they value what goes into your finished article?  How can they value it when you are not telling them what they are actually buying?

In a previous blog on being your own customer for the day,  we considered the importance of how you define what you or your company does, from a marketing perspective.  Apply the great marketing philosophy I always use ? use the ?so what? factor.  So you say you are a marketing consultancy ? so what?  What benefit does that tell me ? nothing at all.  What pain are you alleviating?  It?s not a case of us being a marketing consultancy; what we actually do is deliver and implement marketing strategies that result in more customers spending more money with our clients.

Defining your business this way helps your customers know what you deliver – and puts greater emphasis on what it takes for you to get to the end result.  Your expertise in what you deliver is what customers buy, not just the finished result (the painting).