Crafting an Elevator Pitch is hard … but possible with help.

Sometimes when you are too close to a situation or product, you tend to forget how to break things down simply, so that explaining what it is or why someone might care makes sense. I struggle with this regularly with our Global Navigation tool that works Navo, because we’re always in the trenches and the tech and speak that language daily. It can get muddled.

So a little while back, I reached out for help with the idea that I wanted someone to help us with an elevator pitch … but I knew that I also needed someone else to pull the words and purpose from my brain. So I did the following:

1. I hired someone to capture the ‘value proposition’ Navo provides
2. I then gave that value proposition to someone else I hired, to help us nail the pitch

For the rest of this blog, I’m simply going to share the results of both of those exercises as I think you’ll find it interesting.

The Value Proposition

This is the result of a questionnaire and then leaving Navo with a professional to help us nail the feeling and problems solved by Navo. This was a very interesting process and I think he did a fantastic job.

Value Proposition – Getnavo.com

A value proposition is a carefully crafted pitch that paints a clear picture of what your product or service has to offer to prospects. The statement outlines what makes your brand unique, what problems it solves for the customer and why it is superior to alternatives.

The value proposition is a business’ unique identifier. In the absence of a strong value proposition, prospective customers have no reason to chose you over competition. That is why your value proposition needs to differentiate your brand from the rest of the industry such that you can make a strong first impression.

Getnavo.com’s current value proposition

The value proposition on the getnavo.com homepage reads as follows: One organization. One navigation. The tools you use in the modern workplace constantly change. Finding your way to them shouldn’t.

This statement suggests that Navo helps in finding or sorting information in organizations – this is a good start but it is not very explicit on what type of organization we are addressing. Also the ultimate benefit – time and efficiency gains – could be referred to more directly. Last but not least,
the value prop does not tell us how Navo differentiates from competition.
Using the value proposition canvas we can understand the psychology, needs and desires of prospective Navo customers and users. Based on these insights we can craft a value proposition that explains to prospects in the target audience why they should be buying from getnavo.com.

Proposal 1 – Explanatory value proposition

• For SMEs without an in-house IT department, Navo is a tool which allows you to centrally organize all key information such that it is always readily available to your employees.
• For organizations facing information overload, Navo is a tool which allows you to centrally organize all key company bookmarks across the web, mobile, MS Teams and SharePoint. Navo ensures that you have the right information always readily available for your employees.
• For organizations in pursuit of increased efficiency, Navo is a tool which helps you to centrally organize all key company bookmarks across the web, mobile, MS Teams and SharePoint. Navo puts the right information at your employees’ fingertips at the right time.
• We help companies to become more efficient by organizing bookmarks centrally. Navo makes access and retrieval of information easy and quick.
• We help companies to become more efficient: Navo is the company directory for the connected workplace, making it easy and quick for your employees to access and retrieve the information they need to work.
• Studies show that employees spend up to 25% of their time looking for information they need to work. Introduce Navo – the company directory for the connected workplace. Navo keeps your team connected to the right resources, across workspaces and devices.
• Studies show that employees spend up to 25% of their time looking for information they need to work. Navo, the company directory for the connected work space, keeps your team connected to the right resources across work spaces and devices.

Proposal 2 – Short, simple, memorable value proposition

• Navo – We help organizations to organize.
• Navo – Company bookmarks organized.
• Navo – Efficient bookmarking for your organization.
• Navo – Efficient company bookmarks.
• Navo – Bookmark what matters.
• Navo – Information organized for your employees not by your employees.
• Navo – Stop searching, start finding.
• Navo – The digital company directory.
• Navo – The company directory for the connected workplace.

Value Proposition Check

The suggested value propositions listed above can of course also be combined into a more comprehensive value proposition.

One could for example use the short, memorable value proposition as a headline and combine it with the explanatory value proposition as a sub-headline for further explanation:

Navo – the company directory for the connected workplace. For organizations in pursuit of increased efficiency, Navo is a tool which helps you to centrally organize all key company bookmarks to keep your team connected to the right resources, across workspaces and devices.

Or:

Navo – Efficient company bookmarks. For organizations in pursuit of increased efficiency, Navo helps you to centrally organize all key company bookmarks to keep your team connected to the right resources, across work spaces and devices.

Let’s see now if the above value proposition would do a good job at communicating to our customers: a good value proposition is clear and makes explicit what the product/services is, what is does and for whom.

• What is the end benefit? → keep your team connected to the right resources. Check. The end benefit is clearly articulated.
• For whom? → organizations in pursuit of increased efficiency. Check. We address organizations and more specifically those looking to increase their efficiency, the targeting is very precise.
• What makes the offering unique/different? → Navo helps you to centrally organize all key company bookmarks. Check. Competition does not offer centrally managed tools to organize company resources.

Further, a good value proposition should fulfill the following criteria:

• Clarity – it is easy to understand: the company directory for the connected workplace. Check.
• It avoids hype and business jargon: Check. The above statement does not use any language that is not easily understood.
• It can be read and understood in a few seconds: Check.

The Elevator Pitch (The Result)

Once I had the Value Proposition captured, it was on to the Elevator Pitch, using a different professional. I think he did a great job as well, capturing it all in something that could be shared in under a couple of minutes. Here’s the result…

Shouldn’t technology make business simpler? We think it should. To our whole team at Regroove, this concept seems fundamental. If technology is eating up time rather than saving it, then where exactly is the benefit to it? At what point is enough enough?

It may shock you to learn that many employees spend upwards of 20% of each day stumbling through their technology platforms, searching – sometimes searching without end – for the information and tools that they need. The most popular pieces of business technology are, unfortunately, just not a smooth fit for small and mid-size businesses that lack a dedicated resource for tech communication and governance. If you are aiming for lean operations and prize yourself on reducing waste within your business infrastructure, then the status quo is likely not cutting it. You have seen messy, clunky platforms get into your way more than enough already.

This is where Navo is revolutionary. Adapting to the technology platforms you use currently, Navo cuts through all the clutter that is keeping you from reaching your peak efficiency levels, affording you the same level of intuitiveness and convenience you would expect to find on a major website on the internet. We have set a clear and ambitious mission for ourselves, to break through the pitfalls and shortcomings that plagued otherwise-functional business for far too long, and Navo is the path that we have carved out.

To learn more about Navo and what a little organization and intuition could mean for your business, visit us at www.getnavo.com now.

Short, storytelling.

Finally, we’ve been experimenting with a few storytelling tools.

We’ve been playing with a “Navo is like a Mall Map for your Business” theme…

And we introduced Kevin. I really like Kevin. ?