If the person next to you in the elevator can't comprehend what you do by the time the door opens, he or she won't tell associates, and potential funding and sales are lost. Even if you always take the stairs, thinking about your elevator speech is a key way to sharpen your presentation and focus on the critical issue of positioning.

The Event The Northern Virginia Technology Council's Emerging Business Committee is presenting Scott Cary on June 17, 7:30-9:30 a.m. at 1595 Spring Hill Rd., Vienna, Va. (The Concourse Building). The Emerging Business Committee, which meets monthly, is co-chaired by Anne Crossman, president of Completed Systems Inc. and Harry Glazer, technology partner for the law firm of Ginsburg, Feldman and Bress.

This Entrepreneurs Q&A guest is Scott Cary, president of SGC Associates Inc., a technology and information marketing consulting firm. Cary will be conducting an interactive session at the June 17th Emerging Business Network program -- an interactive opportunity to test and perfect your own elevator speech.

Prior to founding SGC Associates in 1995, Cary led marketing and product management organizations for software, telecommunications and information services companies. He has launched more than 40 different products.

Q: What is the "elevator speech"?

Scott Cary: The elevator speech is the verbalization of your positioning (company, product or service). Your positioning should be the summation of intimate knowledge of buyer needs, competition and unique value.

Many people think a great elevator speech means being able to quickly tell people what your product does, who it's for, benefits and why it's unique. The reality is a great elevator speech gives your audience the ability to QUICKLY PERCEIVE what you do, the value of what you do and how you're unique.

An elevator speech is the acid test for your positioning. Positioning is both an activity (the act of establishing your position in the marketplace) and a thing (a written description of the perception you want to create in your target buyer's mind).

Cary: Gaining mind-share is a fundamental objective for many technology companies. One of the key ingredients in establishing mind-share is ensuring people can quickly grasp the who, what and why of your product. If you don't establish the position you want in your buyer's mind, somebody else will. Having a great product doesn't hurt either!

Q: What are the signs of great positioning?

Cary: The evidence of great positioning is consistency. If buyers, influencers, partners, press and shareholders use your words to describe your product, you have great positioning. The perception you wanted has been planted. You've created and occupied space inside their mind that is favorable to you. Significant word of mouth referral activity is another sign of great positioning. If it's easy to understand, it's easy to spread.

Cary: It has to start with outside-in thinking; knowing what's important to prospects. An example I like to use is Hertz Gold. They understand what's important to their core target buyers -- business travelers. Business travelers care about speed and convenience. Hertz offers convenient locations and weather-protected check-out and check-in.

My take on a potential Hertz positioning statement is "For professionals who travel frequently, Hertz Gold is a car rental service that gets business people to and from their car faster and more conveniently." Their positioning is not "There's Hertz and there's not exactly." That's their tag line. The visuals to their television ads focus on the speed and convenience and the tag line reinforces their competitive position.

Geoffrey Moore outlines a positioning statement format in "Crossing the Chasm." It's a fill-in-the-blank format, as follows:

For (target customer), who (statement of the need or opportunity), the (product name) is a (product category) that (statement of key benefit - that is, compelling reason to buy). Unlike (primary competitive alternative), our product (statement of primary differentiation).

Cary: Although it looks easy to complete, my experience in working with companies is that it can actually be very painful because it requires an excellent understanding of target buyers, their priorities, in-depth competitive intelligence and crystal-clear analysis and thinking.

I often see position statements that were built with inside-out thinking. Companies have a great technology with great features and that's what you see pushed in press releases and all sales materials. The value to the target buyer has not been identified or communicated. In that case, a quick validation with target buyers often reveals that the product's selling point is of little value to the buyer. It might be a unique capability that no other competitor has, but it means little to the buyer.

Cary: The methodology I follow in helping companies create their positioning statements consists of the following steps:

Create a list of the needs/problems/issues (in question form) for each target buyer.

Group the needs into higher-level needs/applications.

Assess the importance of each application and select the three most important applications.

Map product capabilities with applications.

Identify major benefits of the product for each application.

Create a competitive capabilities map consisting of the two most important buying criteria (overall value).

Write the positioning statement.

Cary: No, positioning statements are internal documents. However, the positioning statement is the basis for all communication including Web site, collateral and press releases. Every external communication should reflect the core pieces of the positioning statement -- what the target audience should be repeating when somebody asks them what the product does.