The Elevator Test
A two-sentence positioning formula that forces clarity on target customer, competition, and diffe...
The Elevator Test is a fill-in-the-blank positioning formula: 'For [target customers] who are dissatisfied with [market alternative], our product is a [product category] that provides [compelling reason to buy]. Unlike [product alternative], we have assembled [key whole product features for the beachhead segment].'
This formula addresses every element pragmatist buyers need: who it is for, what spending it displaces, what category it belongs to, why it is worth switching, and what makes the solution complete. If you cannot fill in every blank with clear, specific answers, your positioning is incomplete.
The constraint of two sentences forces hard choices about what to include. If your elevator statement requires a paragraph of explanation, your positioning is too complex for the pragmatist buyer who allocates approximately thirty seconds to categorize new vendors. The test is both a diagnostic (revealing gaps) and a deliverable (producing the core statement for all communications).
- {"title":"Two Sentences Means You Have Decided","description":"The inability to compress positioning into the template is not a writing problem -- it is a strategy problem. It means you have not made hard choices about target customer, category, and differentiation."}
- {"title":"Every Blank Must Be Specific","description":"Generic answers like 'businesses' for target customers or 'better productivity' for compelling reason to buy fail the test. Each blank must contain a concrete answer a pragmatist can immediately evaluate."}
- {"title":"The Statement Must Be Testable","description":"Someone unfamiliar with your company should hear the statement and understand what you do, who you serve, and why you are different. If they cannot, the positioning is not working."}
- Fill in the Target CustomerSpecify exactly who your product is for: a role, at a type of company, in a specific situation. Match your beachhead segment's target customer characterization.Pro tipIf you cannot name the target customer without 'and' (sales managers and marketing directors and IT admins), you are targeting too broadly.
- Fill in the Market AlternativeName the existing solution or budget your product displaces. This grounds positioning in the customer's existing reality.WarningIf you cannot identify a market alternative, the customer may not have a funded budget, which means no compelling reason to buy.
- Fill in the Product CategoryName the category your product belongs to. It must be immediately intelligible to your target customer without explanation.Pro tipTwo to four words maximum. Test by asking: if a pragmatist heard this category with no context, would they know what type of product you are?
- Fill in the Compelling Reason to BuyState the single most important outcome your product delivers that the market alternative cannot. Focus on business outcome, not technical mechanism.Pro tipFrame in terms of customer pain: 'Reduces compliance reporting from four weeks to two days' is compelling. 'Uses advanced NLP' is not.
- Fill in Product Alternative and Whole Product FeaturesName the product alternative validating your approach, then state key whole product features that differentiate your complete solution from other new entrants.WarningWhole product features should reference components the product alternative lacks -- industry integrations, certified implementations, dedicated support.
- Test the Complete StatementRead the statement to someone unfamiliar with your product. Ask: What do we do? Who do we serve? Why switch? What makes us different? If they cannot answer all four, revise.Pro tipTest with actual pragmatist buyers, not your team or investors. Your team will always understand; the question is whether target customers do.
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Moore introduced the Elevator Test to combat technology companies whose positioning was either too vague or too complex. After helping dozens of companies develop positioning, he found that the real test of quality was whether the entire team could articulate it consistently in under thirty seconds.
The template emerged from pattern-matching across successful chasm crossings. Every successful company could articulate a statement naming the target customer, problem, category, differentiation, and whole product in two sentences. Companies that could not had not completed the strategic thinking required for crossing.